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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES 

IN 

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 



BOARD OF EDITORS 

GEORGE T. FLOM WILLIAM A. OLDFATHER 

STUART P. SHERMAN 



Published by the University of Illinois 

Under the Auspices of the Graduate School 

Urbana, Illinois 



MonotrrapVi 



Copyright, 1915 
Bv THE University of Illinois 



©CI.A414934 

DEC -8 1915 



STUDIES IN 
THE MILTON TRADITION 



JOHN WALTER GOOD 



^f?3S 



«\ 



&^ 



THESIS 

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English 

in the Graduate School of the 

University of Illinois 

1913 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
Introductory Survey of the Field ii 

1 Milton's reputation during Restoration Period ii 

1 General sense of neglect, with special credit to the services of Addison.... 12 

2 Attempted explanation of neglect 13 

3 Research into questions of reputation 15 

2 Common views of Milton's influence 17 

1 Productive influence denied to his Epics 18 

2 Influence worked out along the lines of the Romantic Movement laid 
down by Professor Phelps and Professor Beers 18 

3 The Nature and Purpose of the present Studies 22 

CHAPTER II 

Publication of Milton's Works 24 

1 Paradise Lost 25 

2 Paradise Regained 31 

3 SaiiisoH Agonistes . 34 

4 Comus - 3S 

5 Lycidas 37 

6 L'Allegro and // Penseroso (Companion Poems) 38 

7 Other Minor Poems 40 

8 English Poems in Latin Translations (184-192)... 41 

9 The Prose Works 43 

10 Summaries 34 49 

CHAPTER III 
Poetical Tributes to Milton Si 

CHAPTER IV 
Biographical Treatment of Milton 112 

1 Allusions before Paradise Lost (1667) 112 

2 John Aubrey's Notes -. 113 

3 Earliest Life (Dr. Paget?) 113 

4 William Winstanley (1687) 114 

5 Anthony A. Wood (1691-2?) 115 

6 Gerard Langbaine (1691) iiS 

7 .Addison (1694). Yalden (1698), Blount (1694) 116 

8 Edward Phillips (1694) .,. 116 

9 John Toland ( 1698) .*. I16 

10 Gilbert Burnet, History of My Own Times (1700?) 118 

11 A Complete History of Europe (1705) 118 

12 Bp. White Kennet, Complete History of England (1706) 119 

13 Thomas Ellwood, The History (1714) 119 

14 Giles Jacob, The Poetical Register (1719-20) 119 

15 Elijah Fenton (1725) 120 

16 Daniel Neal, History of the Puritans (1733) 122 

S 



17 Jonathan Richardson (1734) 123 

18 Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. {1738) 124 

19 Rev. Francis Peck (1740) _. 127 

20 Martha Whincop ( 1747) 127 

21 Rev Thomas Newton, D.D. (1749) 128 

22 Theophilus Cibber (1753) 129 

23 David Hume, History of England (1756) 130 

24 William Harris, //u/oncj (17S3-1766) 132 

25 Mrs. Cath. Macaulay Graham, History of England (1763) 133 

26 John Bell (1777, 1796) I33 

27 Dr. Samuel Johnson (1779) _ 134 

28 Dr. Robert Anderson (1783) 136 

29 William Hayley (1794), J- Bell (1796) 137 

30 Rev. John Evans (1799) I37 

31 Rev. Henry J. Todd, D.D. (1801) 137 

32 John Aiken (1798-99) 138 

Z2 Concluding Summary 138 

CHAPTER V 

Criticism to 1730. Rank Established 140 

1 Early indifference to the Minor Poetry 140 

2 Early antagonism to the Prose Writings 142 

3 Gradual and triumphant rank through Paradise Lost 143 

1 Friendly and favorable notices 144 

2 Advantageous political changes 14S 

3 Advancement by formal criticism 146 

1 Condemnation by ultra-classicists 146 

2 Attitude of Dryden, inspiring confidence 146 

3 Moral reformation and John Dennis 148 

4 Enthusiasm of Charles Gildon 150 

5 Neo-Classica! attitude 150 

1 Richard Steele . 151 

2 Joseph Addison 152 

3 Voltaire ISS 

4 Pomfret, Hughes, B}sshe, Budgell, Gav, &c 157 

5 General recognition of Milton's superior geniu', 158 

6 Paradise Lost considered a Dtvine Poem 159 

4 Defense of Blank \ er';e _ 160 

1 Milton versus Dr\dcn 160 

2 Thomas Rhymer and extreme opposition 162 

3 Inferior rank allowed Deluge of couplets 162 

4 Blank verse exalted Thought vs Form Rh\me condemned 163 
I. Gildon, Watts, Benson, Roscommon 164 
2 Phillips, Lansdowne \tterbury 164 

4 Concluding Summary 166 



CHAPTER VI 
Controversies and Explanations 1730 1765 

1 Minor Poems made familiar 

2 Prose Works made popular 

3 The Epics defended and explained 

1 Critical editions 

1 Hume (169s) 

2 Tonson-Addison (1719) 

3 Fenton (1725) 

4 Bentiey (Controversy) (1732) 

5 Hawkey (1747) 

2 Critics and Commentators 

1 Clarke (1731) i/Q « 

2 Swift (1732) 179 g 

3 Jortin (1734) 179 10 

4 Richardson (1734). 179 11 

5 Shenstone (l73S) 180 12 

6 Pemberton (1738) 180 13 

7 Benson (1713, 39) 180 

3 Critical editions continued 

1 Newton (1749) 182 4 

2 Callander (1750) 182 5 

3 Marchant (1751) 182 

4 Critics of Paradise Regained 

1 Phillips (1694) 182 4 

2 Meadowcourt (1732) 183 5 

3 Jortin (1734) 183 6 

5 Popular re-action 

6 Religious Controversy (Appendix E) 

7 Lauder Controversy 

8 Later Criticism 

1 Goldsmith (1757) 

2 Hughes (1750) 

3 Johnson (1751) 

4 Hurd (1751) 

5 J. Warton (i7t3) 

6 Cooper (1755) 

7 D. Swift (175s) 
g Familiar Use in Illustrations 

1 Johnson (i7SS) i< 

2 Burke (1756) ic 

3 J. Moor (1760) i( 

4 Karnes (1762) i( 
10 Blank Verse Controversy 

1 Poetical criteria Content \: 

1 "Old Man' (1737) 

2 Pemberton (1738) 

3 J. Mason (1749) 

7 



•IT" (1739) 
Smith (1739) 
Peck (1740) 
Paterson (1744) 
Green (1745) 
Stillingfleet (174—). 



167 

167-173 

- 173-175 

I7S 

176-179 

29, 148, 176 

176 

177 

176 179, 185 

- 179 

179-182 



Donaldson (1762) 
Wood (1765) 



182 



182-183 

Warburton (1738) 183 

Anonymous (1741) 183 

Newton (1752) 183 



T. Warton (l754) 

J. Warton (1756) 
Poetical Scale (17S8) 
Lyttelton (1760) 
W. Massey (1761) 

W. Dodd 

J. Scott 



D. Webb (1762) 
Watkinson (1761') 

H. Blair 

Leland (1764) 



184-192 
.192-197 

194 

194 

195 
196 
197 
197 
197 
197-199 
198 
199 
199 
199 



Form.. 



200-202 
200 



4 Johnson (1755) 201 

5 Kames and Webb 201 

2 Poetical liberties of blank verse vs. rhymes 202-208 

1 Blank verse poetry cited 203 

2 Critical authority cited : 

1 A. Hill (1754) 203 

2 J. Byrom (1755) 203 

3 J. Warton (1756) „. 204 

4 R. Colvill (1757) 204 

5 T. Newcomb (1757) 204 

6 Dr. Young (1758) 204 

7 Kames and Webb 206 

CHAPTER VH 

Romantic Application of Milton 209 

: I Interests in Minor Poems — mainly scholarly 209 

1 Samson Agonistes - 209 

2 L'Allegro and II Penseroso _ 211 

3 Lycidas and Coinus. Dr. Johnson 212 

4 Re-action against Johnson. Warton, Scott, &c 213 

2 Influence of Milton's larger message upon Romanticism 217 

1 Social interests. Correspondence 218 

I Gray, the Wartons, Mason, Cowper 218 

' 2 Horace Walpole 219 

2 Religion 220 

1 Support of orthodoxy, but more of liberalism 220 

2 Influence upon radicalism 220 

3 Encouragement to mysticism 221 

3 Political agitation _ 222 

1 Relation to modern freedom _ 222 

2 Particular force of the Epics 223 

3 Identification with Whig interests 224 

4 Double support to political radicalism 225 

1 In treatment of social and political evils 225 

2 In dreams of future golden age of democracy 229 

4 Poetical Form 230 

1 Confidence in blank verse 230 

2 Limitations assigned to rhyme. Milton's Verse 230 

3 Opposition — Goldsmith, Ruffhead, Darwin, Johnson 232 

4 Re-action of liberals — Mason, Knox, Kellett, Cowper 233 

5 Triumphant study of blank verse. Summary 234 

5 Standards of literary criticism 235 

1 Milton's excellence unassailable 235 

2 Standard of merit — used by Johnson, Warton, Mickle, Mason 236 

6 Inner spirit of Romanticism 237 

1 Orientalism _ 237 

2 Gothicism 237 

3 Medieval Romances 237 

4 Descriptive tendencies. Mystic view of Nature 238 

8 



;• 7 The spirit of Poetry 239 

1 Heroic couplets 239 

2 Springs of poetic activity 239 

3 Imaginative element 239 

4 "High seriousness" 240 

3 Ideality the source of IMilton's power. Vision of Moral Order 241 . 

1 Dream of ideal liberty 241 "^ 

2 Emphasis upon universal relations of Man 243 

3 Exaltation of inner righteousness 244 

4 Vivid and powerful mysticism 245 

5 Moral end of education 246 

6 The "Divine" inspiration of Poetry 247 

7 Summary 248 j 

Conclusion 249 

APPENDIX 

A Milton's History of Britain 251 

B Milton's Blindness 252 

C Mrs. Macaulay's Estimation of Milton 255 

D Addison's Critique in the 18th Century 256 

E Controversy about Milton's Religion 259 

F Notes on Milton's Sources 261 

G Religious Titles 263 

H Educational Titles 265 

I Milton's Eden and English Landscape Gardening 268 

J Milton's Monument, Grave and Family 274 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 



PREFACE 

In such a study as this now offered to the public two things are 
obviously important. The student must see clearly what Milton was to 
the English people of the Eighteenth Century ; and then the student must 
portray faithfully what he has seen. In both of these lines of effort the 
author has been at least conscientious and sincere. He has made a 
constant effort to view even the undercurrents of national feeling for 
Milton through the medium of contemporary literature. In presenting 
his observations, he has striven to reflect the note of Miltonic exaltation 
which persists throughout the period. 

The author's obligations in connection with this work are too 
numerous for individual mention in a brief preface. Special expression 
of gratitude, however, must be made to Professor S. P. Sherman for 
suggesting this investigation and guiding it to its completion; and to 
Professor R. M. Alden for much assistance and encouragement. Sincere 
thanks are also due other members of the English Faculty and the 
Librarians of the University of Illinois for suggestions and assistance 
in the finding and handling of materials. Acknowledgements are also 
due to W. A. Oldfather for advice concerning the manuscript, for reading 
the proof sheets, and for seeing the work through the press. 

J. W. Good. 
Manhattan, Kansas 
October 14, 1914 



CHAPTER I 

Introductory Survey op the Field 

The questiou of Milton's popularity during the Restoration Period 
has had an interesting development. The earliest recorded opinions on 
this subject seem to belong to the generation that succeeded the Restor- 
ation, and almost unanimously proclaim Milton unpopular during that 
period. The men who seem most responsible for this early view are 
Sir Richard Blackmore and John Dennis. While Addison had formally 
assumed a general popularity in the Introduction' to his Spectator 
Papers on Milton, yet it soon became conventional to speak of Addison 
as therein introducing Milton to the English reading public. As early 
as 1716, there is little doubt that Sir Richard Blackmore had some 
special reference to Addison in the following quotation : 

"It must be acknowledged that till about forty years ago, Great Britain was 
barren of critical learning, tho' fertile in excellent writers ; and in particular had 
so little taste for epic poetry and was so unacquainted with the essential properties 
and true beauties of it that 'Paradise Lost', an admirable work of that kind, 
published by John Milton, the great ornament of his age and country, lay many 
years unspoken of and entirely disregarded till at length it happened that some 
persons of great delicacy and judgment found out the merit of that excellent poem 
and by communicating it to their friends propagated the esteem of tlie author who 
soon acquired universal applause."^ 

The address of John Dennis To Judas Iscariot, Esq.(i. e. Mr. Booth), On 
the Degeneracy of the Public Taste (May 25, 1719) deals largely with the neglect 
of Milton, affirming that "the great Qualities of Milton were not generally known 
among his Countrymen till the Paradise Lost had been publislied more than 
thirty years."^ 

In 1721 Dennis declared that '•Paradise Lost had been printed forty 
years before it was known to the greatest part of England that there 
was such a book."^ These statements readily appear not to refer 
exclusively to the work of Addison. Nor are they now understood as 

^Spectator, No. 262. Dec. 31, 171 1. 

2Sir Richard Blackmore ( d. 1729). Essays, 1716. Quoted by C. W. Moulton, 
Lib. Lit. Criticism. IL p. 258. 
^Letters, 1721. I. 70-80. 
*John Dennis (1657-1734). Letters, 1721. L 174. 



12 THE MILTON TRADITION [104 

intended to be more than comparatively true. The high standards of 
Dennis especially were far in advance of his age ; and such men seriously 
consider only just artistic appreciation.^ But their words seem not to 
have had this important qualification in the mind of their earliest 
readers. 

Just ten years later (1731), the same opinion is set forth by Aaron 
Hill, who speaks ironically of the judicious English nation receiving 
great glory ' ' from our stupid insensibility to such a prodigious Genius as 
Milton's, who had been thirty years dead before the force of his Poetry 
began to take Life among us." Then he deprecates the false taste that 
makes England ridiculous to foreign nations, in that she now exalts 
Blackmore, and rewards "a rumbling Rhapsody which debases kings into 
Prize-fighters, and does indignity to Human Nature," whereas there 
was only "Contempt expressed by the same wise Judges, a little before, 
for that God-like fire, in the Paradise Lost, where the Divine Nature 
seems heightened, till it appears more Divine, and man is rendered 
capable of giving Glory to the Angels."" 

For neglecting to conform to this degenerate taste of the Restor- 
ation Period, says the introductory paper of The True Patriot,' "Milton 
himself lay long in obscurity, and the world had nearly lost the best poem 
which it hath ever seen." With this general sentiment Horace Walpole 
is in agreement when he asserts (1757), that "Milton was forced to 
wait till the world had done admiring Quarles."^ In the ''Epistle 
Dedicator ij." referred to above, Aaron Hill had spoken plainly of the 
national disgrace in that some great man of means did not seize the 
opportunity of rendering himself immortal by a noble patronage of the 
great Milton. This thought runs through the lines of Moses Mendes, in 
his Epistle to Mr. 8. Tucker (1767) : 

All this I grant : but does it follow then, 

That parts have drawn regard from wealthy men? 

Did Gay receive the tribute of the great? 

No, let his tomb be witness of his fate : 

For Milton's days are too long past to strike ; 

The rich of all times ever were alike.' 

This sense of an early neglect, which caused Milton to be regarded 

''A. W. Verity. Milton's Saiiiion Agonistes. Introduction. Ix-lxi. 

'Aaron Hill (1684-1750). Advice To The Poets. A Poem. 1731. x. 

'Quoted in the Gent. Mag. Jan., 1746. 16:9. 

«H. Walpole (1717-1797). To George Montagu. Aug. 25, 1757. Ed. Toynbe. 
iv. 88. Cf. To the Rev. Wni. Cole. Dec. 10, 1775- ix. 293. 

"Moses Mendes (d. 1758). A. Col. Of the Most Esteemed Pieces of Poetry. 
See Cr. Rev. Nov., 1767. 24:357-361. 



105] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OP THE FIELD 13 

as both the shame and the pride of the nation, ran through the entire 
Eighteenth Century.^" More and more firmly the nation came to fix upon 
the highly prized Critique by Addison as the turning point of Milton's 
fame from evil days and evil tongues to national honor and immeas- 
urable glory. The full force of this national opinion, mistaken though 
it was, will appear in a later connection, where the whole matter of 
Addison's criticism will be brought into formal review.'^ It is enough, 
for the present, to observe that this mistaken view prevailed, and that it 
still persists. 

Mr. Perry (1883) doubts that Milton could ever be a popular poet; 
and yet he affirms that, because courtly literature was so far removed 
from the common people, the populace read the Bible, and Bunyan, and 
Paradise Lost. But in general Mr. Perry regards Milton as "the lonely 
singer of a fallen cause," and speaks of "the indifference with which 
that great poet was treated by his contemporaries."" 

Professor Beljame, in his treatment of Addison (1897), says: 
"On a deja vu comment Shakespeare avait ete ou mis de cote, ou, pis encore, 
irrespectueusement defigure ; ses contemporains et ses predecesseurs les plus illus- 
tres n'avaient pas ete mieux traites. Enfin le seul poete nouveau qui meritat d'etre 
cite a cote d'eux, I'auteur du Paradis perdu, n' avait guere recueille que le silence 
et r indifference. Ce fond solide et vraiment anglais avait ete submerge par la 
litterature futile de la Restauration." Again he says of Addison's attempt to 
revive neglected native English literature : "II parla avec admiration a ses lectures 
de Shakespeare, de Spenser, de Bacon, de Ben Jonson, surtout de Mihon, au 
chef d'oeuvre duquel il ne consacra pas moins de dix-huit articles qui sont, apres 
r edition de Tonson dont j'ai deja parle, la premiere reparation faite par I'Angle- 
terre au pauvre grand poete mort dans I'eubli."!^ 

Eobert Poscher, in his Andrew Marville Poetische Wcrke (1908), 
holds tliat Milton was little known and recognized before the work of 
Addison." Professor Courthope (1909) affirms that Addison's "Papers 
on Milton achieved tlie triumph of making a practically unknown poem 
one of the most popular classics in the language. "^^ Thus tenacious has 
been the idea of Milton's early neglect, and of his later popular installa- 
tion by Addison, in its hold upon the English mind. 

Granting for the time this neglect, the next impulse was to explain 
it. With a love for Milton that was little short of idolatry, the Eigh- 
teenth Century felt that there was some special degeneracy in an age 
that failed to recognize the merits of a Milton. Hence there was a vital 

'"Poetic Tribute No. 179. Chapter III below. 

1' Pages 152-155 and Appendix D. 

i-T. S. Perry, Eng. Lit. in the iSth Cent., pp. 34, 40, 162. 

'^Alex. Beljame. Addison: Le Public et Les Hommes de Lettres, pp. 3IS-3I7- 

"Weiner Beitriige, Englischen Philogogie, vol. xxviii (1908). p. 118. 

'^W. J. Courthope, Addison: Eng. Men of Letters Srs., v., p. 181. 



14 THE MILTON TRADITION [106 

connection between this inquiry, and the great political, social, and 
ecclesiastical attempts to pry into and reconstruct seventeenth century 
English History. There was a general tendency to publish, and repub- 
lish every item accessible that bore upon English life during those 
troublous times; and it seems that no opportunity was missed of empha- 
sizing the bearing of each new publication upon the status of Milton. 

Often there was more emotion than scholarship applied to this 
problem, giving rise to such execrations as that of Aaron Hill already 
cited, and of others whose feelings will appear in later pages of this 
discussion. The nation became sensitively critical of Restoration mor- 
ality and politics. Thus the Monthly Review pronounced Buckingham's 
Character of Charles II (1750) good and adequate, but extreme, if at 
all, on the charitable side.^" The nation could never be reconciled to the 
trifle which Milton received for Paradise Lost; yet it was agreed that the 
price paid "was more than the purchaser had any reasonable prospect 
of being speedily reimbursed" in such an age.^' Perhaps this national 
feeling is connected not remotely with the demand for Butler's Satires, 
in Thyer's edition of The Genuine Remains in 1759.^* 

But during the latter half of the Eighteenth Century mere feeling 
gave place to sober investigation and scholarlj^ judgment. Students of 
the problem began to grapple with the real questions of historical causes 
and effects. On a large scale this appears in the histories of the Seven- 
teenth Century, of which this period produced a considerable number. 
But in a more limited manner such studies appeared in the periodical 
literature and essays of the time. 

In this less pretentious manner, Mrs. Barbauld attempted to explain 
the unpopularity of Milton on a historical basis of political views and 
literary taste.'" Most critics, knowing the moral austerity of Milton, 
tended to explain his unpopularity on purely moral grounds. One 
ascribes the immoral condition of the Restoration to a deep natural 
tendency of the human mind to re-act from any overstrained condition.-" 
This period presented, in so far as court influence was dominant, a solid 
immoral front to Puritanism, and to all that Milton held dear. Another 
finds that "Milton himself was under apprehension that his poem was 

18M0. Rev., May, 1750, 3:38-47- 

^''IVks. of Jas. Thomson, Mo. Rev., April, 1762, 26:298-305. 

"Sam'l Butler (1612-1680), The Geiniiiic Remains in Verse and Prose. In 2 
vols. By R. Thyer. London, 1759. 

i^Mrs. Anna L. Barbauld (1743-1825). Works. Boston, i8-'6, v. s, Critical Es- 
says on the Taller, Spectator, &c., pp. 95-96. 

The same argument of low taste appears in Milton After 300 Years (II). 
By "P. E. M." The Nation, 87 :542-S4S- 

soR. Smith, Microcosm, No. 13, Feb. 19. 1787. Brit. Essayists, ed. 1827, vol. 
xxviii, pp. 77-83- 



107] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OP THE FIELD 15 

produced too late for admiration, if not for excellence."-' Rev. Thomas 
Munro discovers a kind of debased consistency running through the vrits 
of this period, whose loves and writings alike were characterized by 
immorality. "They seemed to have agreed, as it were, with universal 
consent, that a tale of humor was sufficient knowledge, good-fellowship 
sufficient honesty, and a restraint from the extremes of vice sufficient 
virtue."-- William Hayley affirms that "the indecent acrimony with 
which Milton carried on his literary controversies is in part justly im- 
puted to the spirit of the times. "-=* Thus would Hayley lay the very 
sin of Milton for which the age hated him at the very door of that age. 
But Joseph Warton insisted upon emphasizing the factors of literary 
taste as the proper solution. In his Works of Alexander Pope (1797), he 
says, "It was too great attention to French criticism that hindered our 
poets, in Charles II 's time, from comprehending the genius, and 
acknowledging the authority of Milton ; else, without looking abroad, they 
might have acquired a manner more correct and perfect than the French 
authors could or can teach them. ' '-* 

This general sketch will serve to show one line of activity that 
engaged considerable attention throughout the Eighteenth Century. Much 
material on this subject will appear incidentally in the following pages. 
A more important line of activity is now to be mentioned. It is that of 
real research into the problem of Milton's early popularity. This has 
been a process of constant evolution toward formal proof that Milton 
was not, in view of the facts, so unpopular as he has been supposed. 

In 1713, John Hughes, in dedicating his edition of Spenser's Works 
to Lord Sommers, said, "It was your Lordship encouraging a beautiful 
edition of Paradise Lost that first brought that incomparable poem to be 
generally known and esteemed."-'' Jonathan Richardson, in 1734, ob- 
served the "current opinion that the late Lord Sommers first gave this 
Poem a reputation," but undertook to show, by several anecdotes, that 
the poem was "knowTi and esteemed .... before there was such a man 
as Lord Sommers." This author, however, accorded high praise to the 

^'Mr. Frere, Microcosm, No. 25, May 7, 1787. Brit. Essayists, ed. 1827, vol. 
xxviii, pp. 146-150. 

"Rev. Thos. Monro (1764-1815), Olio Podrida, No, 21, Aug. 4, 1787. Brit. 
Essayists, 1827, vol. .xxviii, pp. 316-323. 

"Wm. Hayley (1745-1820), The Ptl. IVks. of J. Milton. Quoted in the Mo. 
Rev., Feb., 1795, 97 (16) :i2i-i25. 

"Jos. Warton (1722-1800), The Wks. of A. Pope, 9 vols. Lxsndon, 1797. Vol. 
I, p. 265. 

^^John Hughes (1677-1720). Wks. of Spenser, 3 vols. London, Tonson, 1713. 
"Dedication," p. v. Cf. Tribute 85, p. 74 below. 



16 THE MILTON TRADITION [108 

work of Addison in this connection.^" In his Life of Hilton (1738), 
Thomas Birch argued that this magnificent edition of Paradise Lost in 
1688 was not a cause but a proof of popularity, and cited among other 
evidences the famous subscription list in support of his contention." 
Birch was, as it seems, the first biographer to do real research work in 
connection with a Life of Milton. Prom that time almost every account 
of Milton contributed something, incidentally at least, in the way of 
additional facts. 

But the next formal effort to show ililton's early popularity was 
in the Life of Milton by Dr. Samuel Johnson (1779). He held that 
Paradise Lost had to force "its way in a kind of subterranean current 
through fear and silence ' ' until the restraints of public appreciation were 
removed in the revolution of 1688. But he argued from the publisher's 
contract with Milton that 3,000 copies were sold during the first eleven 
years.^' The contribution to this study by Thomas Warton (1728-1790) 
marked one aspect of advancement upon all preceding works. In his 
Preface to Milton's Minor Poems (1785, and 1791), Warton devoted 
large space to a comparison between the early popularity of the Major 
and the Minor Poems of Milton. Succeeding Lives of Milton touch upon 
this problem ;-^ but the next substantial contribution was in the thorough 
scholarship manifested in The Life of Milton, prepared by H. J. Todd, 
for his Variorum Edition of Milton's Poetical Works (1801). Todd 
left little room to doubt a reasonable popularity of Paradise Lost at an 
early date ; and his conclusions were reinforced by the findings of William 
Godwin in his Lives of John and Edward Phillips (1809). 

The results of these labors were followed and enlarged upon by 
Professor Masson, in his exhaustive History of the Life and Times of 
John Milton (1859-1880). He devotes a large section of his last volume, 
less exhaustive than the other parts of the work, to "The Posthumous 
Reputation of Milton." This reputation rests, according to Masson, 
largely upon Paradise Lost, whose extraordinary merits "about the be- 
ginning of 1669 .... began to be a matter of talk among the critics and 
court-wits, and then through the boundless praise of it by Dryden and 
Lord Bnckhurst."=» 

-°J. Richardson, Father and Son. Life of Milton. Ex/^laiiatory Notes, &c. 
1734- pp. cxvii-cxix. 

='Rev. Thos. Birch (1705-1766). An Account of the Life and Writings of 
Mr. John Milton. Prose IVks. (1738). I. pp. xlvii, &c. This subscription list 
contains 500 names, among which are counted the best that England had in that 
generation. 

28Saml. Johnson (1709-1784). Life of Milton. (G. B. Hill.) I. 141-44- 

='See the Chapter on Biography of Milton. 

^oDavid Masson (1822-1907). Life of Milton. VI. 775-840. 



109] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OP THE FIELD 17 

Later biographers, as well as literary historiaus, have been content, 
as a rule, with the labors of Professor Masson. Mark Pattison's Milton 
(1879) is concerned more with condensation than expansion. Dr. Rich- 
ard Garnett's Life of Milton (1890) adds a valuable Bibliography, 
compiled from the British Muse^mi Catalogue, by Mr. John P. Anderson. 
Professor W. L. Phelps says that Addison "was not the first man to 
bring Milton into notice. Editions of Milton had been regularly supply- 
ing a quiet but steady demand."'^ Mr. Elton holds that "during the 
days of Dryden, Milton was not an influence — he was only a reputation, 
and his repute was that of one misunderstood."^- Professor Beers 
agrees that "a course of what Lowell calls 'penitential reading' in Res- 
toration criticism will convince anyone that the names of Chaucer, 
Spencer, Shakespeare, and Milton, already stood out distinctly as those 
of the four greatest English poets. "'^^ Pilon has a section devoted to 
the "Gloire posthume de Milton," which emphasizes the quality of 
Milton's few admirers, and accounts for their number on the basis of 
literary taste."* 

In 1909, Mr. R. D. Havens took up this question of Milton's early 
reputation for formal treatment in some sections of his Harvard Thesis, 
and made substantial contributions to the subject. He finds (1) that 
Milton's high rank was almost immediately established, that he was 
early and persistently ranked with Waller and Cowley, and even pro- 
nounced superior to either of them; and (2) that his early rank is 
based almost exclusively upon the Major Poems, and Paradise Lost in 
particular. He estimates that 4,000 copies of it were sold before 1680.'' 

The preceding sketch of Sliltonic interest during the Restoration 
period^"* is a sort of back-ground upon which to represent the no less 
interesting question of Milton's influence upon Eighteenth Century life 

^'^The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement (1893). p. 88. 

^-Oliver Elton, The Augustan Ages. (1899.) p. 206. 

33H. A. Beers, Hist. Eng. Rom. in the i8th Cent. p. 6911. 

s-Tierre Marie Augustin Filon, Histoire de la Litteratnre Anglaise. 4 ed. 
1909. Hachette, Paris. 

3=R. D. Havens, Seventeenth Century Notices of Milton, and Early Reputation 
of Paradise Lost. Englische Studien, igog. 40:175 ff. The present writer has veri- 
fied most of the materials in these papers, and acknowledges himself much indebted 
to this excellent piece of research done by Mr. Havens. 

s^There are other writings on this subject. Among them, the Diet. Natl. 
Biog. ("Milton," p. 482), and the Ency. Brit., ed. nth ("Milton," p. 489), follow 
Masson. Professor Saintsbury deals in a general way with Milton's early repu- 
tation. A Hist, of English Prosody (11, 474), and The Camh. Hist. Eng. Lit. 
(Vn, chap. v.). Prof. Edw. Dowden has a good summary in his Milton in the 
Eighteenth Century (1701-1750). Proc. of the Brit. Academy, igoy-S. 



18 THE MILTON TRADITION [110 

and letters. Here, however, there is a conspicuous absence of many-sided 
opinions. As early as 1819, Thomas Campbell, while allowing that 
Paradise Lost was not early neglected, had denied to it any productive 
influence upon literature at the time of its appearance. It "attracted 
no crowd of imitators, and made no visible change in the poetical practice 
of the age. Milton stood alone and aloof above his times; the bard of 
immortal subjects, and as far as there is perpetuity in language, of 
immortal fame.""' Eighty years later, as already stated, Mr. Elton 
declared that Milton was, during the days of Drj^deu, not an influence, 
but a reputation. These very words may be used to indicate what seems 
to be the prevailing ojiinion respecting the position of Milton's Epics 
during the Eighteenth Century. It is usually held that the Paractise 
Lost especially enjoyed a great reputation, but was not pre-eminently 
a productive influence. 

The question of Milton's influence upon this period has been 
worked out almost entirely along the lines of the Romantic movement. 
And from this point of view, there has been a striking unanimity in 
limiting the discussion of that influence almost exclusively to the Minor 
Poems, and even to a very few of them. The responsibility for this 
general view seems to rest largely upon Professor Phelps and Professor 
Beers, who liave gone into this subject more than others, and have said 
what most other writers have been content to repeat, or at least not to 
contradict. 

In 1893, Professor Phelps published his popular book on The Be- 
ginnings of the English Romantic Movement, in which he considers the 
movement essentially one of revolt against Augustan standards. Chap- 
ter III of this book deals with the literary "Reaction in Form." In 
this he devotes a few pages (36 ff.) to the use of blank verse in the 
Eigliteenth Century, concluding that "the reaction in form most natur- 
ally took the shape of blank verse for long poems; so that the sympa- 
thizers with the Romantic Movement, consciously or unconsciously, 
found themselves defending blank verse, while the classicists attacked it 
vigorously." But he develops Milton's influence in Chapter V, which 
deals with "The Literature of Melancholy." His view in this chapter 
is set forth in the following introductory statement: 

"We do not today think of Milton as a Romantic poet; his great epic would 
more naturally place him in the ranks of the Classicists ; and his remarkable de- 
votion to the study of Greek and Latin authors, with the powerful influence they 
had upon him, would seem to separate him widely from Romanticism. To the 
men of the eighteenth century, however, his message was Romantic. He was 
shunned and practically neglected by the Augustans, whose Classicism was so 

"Thos. Campbell (1777-1844). Essay on Eng. Poetry. Specimens, 1819. I. 
238. 



Ill] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OF THE FIELD 19 

thoroughly Horatian ; and those who admired him did so more on account of the 
bulk of his epic and its theological theme, than from a genuine love and apprecia- 
tion of his poetry. The young Romanticists claimed Milton for their own ; his . 
name was a rallying cry ; and they followed him in thought, language, and versi- 
fication. His influence cannot be traced out in detail so clearly as Spenser's ; but 
it was a quickening force, as any one who reads eighteenth century minor poetry 
may see for himself. I have already spoken of his influence on the Reaction in 
Form ; his blank verse was steadily imitated and did much toward dethroning the 
couplet; his octosyllabics were still more effective, and his sonnets leavened Eng- 
lish poetry after 1750. But it was not so much in form as in thought that Milton 
affected the Romantic Movement ; and although Paradise Lost was always rever- 
entially considered his greatest work, it was not at this time nearly so effective as 
his minor poetry; and in the latter it was // Penseroso — the love of meditative 
comfortable melancholy — that penetrated most deeply into the Romantic soul." 
(p. 87.) 

Shortly after the appearance of Professor Phelps's book, Pro- 
fessor Courthope brought out his History of English Poetry, in which he 
mentions only the prominent eighteenth century writers of blank verse, 
pays his compliments to Professor Phelps, and follows him rather closely 
in his own chapter on "The Early Romantic Movement."''* In 1898, 
W. Macneile Dixon, in his chapter on "The Romantic Revival," gives 
little more than a passing notice to the eighteenth century interests in 
blank verse poetry, mentioning only Thomson and Young. "From this 
time (1742)," he says, "blank verse grew in favor with the more 
imaginative writers." Then he develops the influence of Milton wholly 
through the Minor Poems, after the manner of Phelps and Courthope.^* 

The next year. Professor Beers presented with force the same gen- 
eral view in his History of English Romanticism (1899, 1906). He says, 
' ' The only important writer who had employed blank verse in undramatic 
poetry between the publication of Paradise Regained in 1672, and 
Thomson's Winter in 1726, was John Philips." (p. 104). "It has 
been mentioned that Paradise Lost did much to keep alive the tradition 
of English blank verse through a period remarkable for its bigoted 
devotion to rhyme, and especially to the heroic couplet. Yet it was, 
after all, Milton's early poetry, in which rhyme is used — though used so 
differently from the way in which Pope used it — that counted most in 
the history of the Romantic Movement." (p. 148). 

In thorough consistency with this point of view. Professor Beers 
tends to pass in hurried summary reviews those blank verse poems that 
do not especially fall in with his theory, (of. p. 124), and to dwell only 
upon those that seem imbued with the spirit of Milton's earlier poetry. 

•■'^Vol. v., Chapter xii, and p. 363. 

39/n The Republic of Letters. Pp. 166-202. 



20 THE MILTON TRADITION [112 

He has indeed traced this line of Miltonie influence with exactness, as 
it appears to him in the following statement: 

"The Influence of Milton's Minor Poetry first became noticeable in the fifth 
decade of the Century, and in the work of a new group of lyrical poets, Collins, 
Gray, Mason, and the brothers, Joseph and Thomas Warton. To all of these 
Milton was master." (151.) 

More definitely, he says: "The poem of Milton which made the deepest 
impression upon the new school of poets was // Pcnscroso. This little master- 
piece, which sums up in imagery of 'Attic choice' the pleasures that Burton and 
Fletcher and many others had found in the indulgence of the atrabilious humor, 
fell in with a current of tendency. Pope had died in 1744, Swift in 1745, the last 
important survivors of the Queen Anne wits ; and already the reaction against 
gayety had set in, in the deliberate and exaggerated solemnity which took pos- 
session of all departments of verse, and even invaded the theatre That 

elegiac mood, that love of retirement and seclusion, which have been remarked in 
Shenstone, become now the dominant note in English poetry. The imaginative 
literature of the years 1740-60 was largely the literature of low spirits. The gen- 
eration was persuaded, with Fletcher, that 'Nothing's so dainty sweet as lovely 
Melancholy.' But the muse of their inspiration was not the tragic Titaness of 
Diirer's painting, 'The Melancholia that transcends all wit,' (but) rather the 
'mild Miltonie maid,' Pensive Meditation. There were various shades of somber- 
ness, from the delicate gray of the Wartons to the funereal sable of Young's 
Night Thoughts (1742-44) and Blair's Grave (i743)-" (PP- 162-3.) 

In 1906, Charles Cestre followed in the foot-prints of these English 
literary historians. Discussing "La Revolution et les Origines du Ro- 
mantisme, ' '•'" he says : 

"II se produisit dans la seconde moitie du XVIII" siecle, en Angleterre, un 
mouvement de renovation litterraire, du au contre-coup, dans les lettres, des 
forces latentes qui preparaient le progres social. (Here he discusses the works of 
the Wartons, Gray, Collins, Mason, Young, Blair, and Bowles.) lis ne se debar- 
rasserent pas de la conventions. A I'ancienne ils en substituerent une nouvelle, 
sans trouver le secret de la poesie sincere et vraie. lis remplacerent le theme 
moral par la theme sentimental, I'appareil de I'antiquite par I'appareil du moyen- 

age, la mode de I'abstraction par la mode de la 'Melancolie.' lis ne 

s'affranchirent pas de I'autorite. Au lieu d'imiter Pope, ils imiterent Spenser et 
Milton ; ils virent le moyen-age surtout a travers la chevalerie de The Faerie 
Queene et ils reproduisirent a satiete les traits et les images 'melancoliques' de 
// Penseroso." (He then speaks of Thomson's and of Young's deficiencies in the 
use of blank verse, and of the corruption of vocabulary which came through these 
revivals of the past.) 

Mr. Gosse, in his History of Eighteenth Century Literature (p. 2), 
holds that, throughout the period 1660-1780, the "heroic couplet was the 
moral and habitual form in which poetry, except on the stage, moved 

*"La ReLOhition Francaise et Les Poetcs Anglaise (1906). Chapter V, Section 
iii, 262-265. 



113] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OP THE FIELD 21 

in its serious moments ; ' ' and consequently he treats other modes briefly 
as so many exceptions and abnormalities. 

Two Papers, read in honor of Milton in 1908, show only a slight 
variation from the conventional view of Milton and his influence upon 
the Eighteenth Century. But the following variations of thought are 
only general introductory statements, and are not developed in the Papers 
from which they are taken. The first of these is from Milton's Fame On 
The Continent, by Professor J. G. Robertson.*^ He suggests that, 

"To Paradise Lost was due, to an extent that has not yet been fully realized, 
the change which came over European ideas in the eighteenth century with regard 
to the nature and scope of epic poetry; that work was the mainstay of those 
adventurous critics who dared to vindicate in the face of French classicism the 
rights of the imagination over the reason as the creative and motive force in 
poetry." 

The other Paper, Milton In The Eighteenth Century (1701-1750), 
by Edward Dowden,*- was a little more definitely analytical. The writer 
considers that, 

"The influence of Milton on the literature of the eighteenth century was 
threefold — an influence on poetic style, independent in a great degree of poetic 
matter and therefore not wholly favourable to literature, during the first half of 
the century, felt in the main by writers who were not in a high sense original ; 
secondly, an influence alike on sentiment and style, which formed one of the 
many affluents of the Romantic Movement of the second half of the century, or, 
to be more exact, from about 1740 onwards; thirdly, an influenec on thought, 
appearing at irregular intervals, but always associated with political liberalism or 
radicalism, from Birch and Benson and James Thomson to Mollis, Archdeacon 
Blackburne, and William Godwin in England, and to Mirabeau in France. The 
first of these modes of influence is chiefly connected with Paradise Lost, the sec- 
ond with Milton's earlier poems, the third with his Prose Writings." 

Later in his Paper, Mr. Dowden says, "The poetry of the second half of the 
century went Milton-mad under the influence of the minor poems, and in particular 
of L' Allegro and // Penseroso."*^ 

In the same year (1908), Professor Saintsbury presented only the 
conventional features of the subject, in his History of English Prosody, 
with an evident tendency to disparage the quality of eighteenth century 
blank verse.*^ Mr. Seccombe followed (1909) the others in emphasizing 
the infiuence of the Minor Poems. ^^ Schipper almost ignores eighteenth 

"Procs. Brit. Acad. i^oy-oS, p. 319. 

<=Same, pp. 275, 280. 

*'Mr. Dowden's "Milton-mad" seems, however, to have been coined just after 
the mid-century, and was originally applied to the writers of blank verse. Cf. 
Tribute 134, p. 86 below. 

**Vol. II, Book viii. Chap. ii. "Blank Verse After Milton." 

«=Thos. Seccombe, The Age of Johnson (1748-179S), p. 283. 



22 THE MILTON TRADITION [114 

century blank verse in his History of English Versification (1910).'"' 

The latest writer consulted falls into the conventional procession 
with more than ordinary enthusiasm. This is doubtless due in large 
measure to the nature of his general subject. The reference is to Mr. 
Edward Bliss Reed, who, in his English Lyrical Poetry (1912), says, 

"More than any other piece of writing, // Pcnseroso inspired the poetry of 
the mid-century. We feel its quiet melancholy from Gray's Elegy to the humblest 
verses forgotten in the columns of the Gentleman's Magazine, while its personifi- 
cations, "spare Fast," "retired Leisure," the "cherub Contemplation,'' are undoubt- 
edly responsible for the endless train of allegorical figures that stalk through the 
Odes of the period." (p. 358). This statement he then illustrates very liberally 
from the Odes of Collins, the Wartons, and others. 

Thus it would appear that Professor Phelps and Professor Beers 
may congratulate themselves on their prestige in this particular field of 
early Romanticism. Both of their books have been popular, and called 
for in later editions. The path that they cleared out for themselves as 
pioneers has become a well-trodden literary highway. Without a large 
measure of truth in their early findings, this eminence could never have 
been possible. No one can doubt that, from their own respective points of 
view, and within the self-imposed limitation of their own peculiar 
definitions of Romanticism, as Revolt (Phelps), or Revival of the Middle 
Ages (Beers), each of them has said much that is true. 

But do these conventional views speak the whole truth? Do they 
even speak the real truth of Milton's influence upon the movements of 
the Eighteenth Century? To one who has gone over the facts, apart 
from all definitions and theories of the Romantic or any other move- 
ment, the above questions are inevitable. No one, thus acquainted with 
the field, can doubt that, within the self-defined limits of these writers, 
they have used mere facts conservatively. The empliasis upon those 
special features of Milton's influence might be made much stronger. 
There is little doubt that each writer did judiciously select, from an ex- 
tended accumulation of materials, that which was choicest for his own 
purpose. But one is forced to feel that this very principle of selection, 
which is on its other side one of exclusion, has been powerful in over- 
estimating the comparative influence of the Minor Poems over that of the 
Major. Such an influence upon a writer is inevitable, and often even 
unconsciously powerful, and most apt to be so when the principle of 
selection is directed by a more or less fixed definition. To avoid it under 
these circimistances would almost require one to be more than human. 

Certainly this comparative exaltation of the Minor Poems may be 
challenged, when one breaks away from definitions, and looks at the 

4«Jakob Schipper, A Hist, of Eng. Versification. Oxford, 1910. He seems to 
recognize only Thomson among the eighteenth century writers of blank verse. 



115] INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OF THE FIELD 23 

influence of Milton in all its comprehensiveness, and multiplicity. 
Neither Milton nor the Romantic Movement is to be cramped within the 
compass of particular definitions. The Movement itself was an expres- 
sion of the eighteenth century life, as broad, as deep, and as powerful, as 
the hidden springs of life itself. From the facts that follow, two things 
would seem to appear as reasonably conclusive as to the real influence 
of Milton upon eighteenth century life, and consequently and immeasura- 
bly upon the Romantic Movement. The first is, that the influence of 
Milton was powerfully felt upon all the multiplied forms and phases of 
eighteenth century life. The second is, that by far the mightiest element 
of this Miltonic influence came, directly or indirectly, from the Major 
Poems, and from Paradise Lost in particular. 

The genesis of this treatment was an attempt to investigate the sub- 
ject in respect to the conventional view of Milton's influence upon the 
Eighteenth Century. But the wealth of materials involved has argued 
convincingly for a historical sketch of some of the various lines of Mil- 
tonic interests. This larger aim will bring into the work materials that 
the original purpose would have excluded. But the materials that are 
relevant will speak their own conclusion respecting the original question. 



CHAPTER II 
The Publication op Milton's Works 

The most direct approach to the interest in Milton during the period 
under consideration is from the standpoint of the Printing Press and 
the Book-store. It is the business of these institutions to study the 
trend and possibilities of public taste, and to direct their business ven- 
tures according to the demands of to-day or the probable demands of 
to-morrow. Success depends upon satisfying, or creating and satisfy- 
ing, public demands by setting before the reading public what it desires 
to read. This simple business principle furnishes a very definite check 
upon one side of the Miltonic interests of this period. It shows how 
great were the general demands for Milton's works as a whole; and, 
what is more important for definite study, it shows the relative demands 
for the several difl'erent parts of Milton's Poetrj' and Prose Works. 

This chapter deals with the facts concerning the publication of 
Milton's Works. In order to clearness and brevity, the more important 
pieces of poetry and prose are to be presented separately, showing what 
was done with each piece of the Works. The several complete and jjar- 
tial editions have been carefully analyzed, and their parts treated sepa- 
rately. Yet the plan of representation is such as to keep the unity of 
these composite editions constantly before the eyes of tlie reader.* 



*This unity depends upon the first column of figures marked "A," which 
refers to the same edition wherever these numbers are found in succeeding pages. 
Under the editions of Paradise Lost the essential facts of most of the numbered 
editions are given, such as the date, publisher, place, title and form, and the editor 
wherever there is one mentioned. These facts for most of the remaining num- 
bered editions are given under Paradise Regained, where there is added, with 
numbers, the four editions of the Poems on Several Occasions separately printed. 
By means of these reference figures the reader may easily identify any publica- 
tion of the smaller poems with the complete or partial editions of the poetical 
Works of Milton. The list under Paradise Regained is further used to bring into 
clear view the several editions of The Complete Poetical Works, Paradise Re- 
gained and the Minor Poems, as well as the four editions of the Minor Poems 
separately printed. 

24 



117] 



THE PUBLICATION OF MILTON S WORKS 



25 



Section 1 Publication of Paradise Lost 



A 


£>a/(7 


Publisher 


Place 


Title, &c. 


2 


1667 


P. Parker 


London 


P. L., 10 bks., 4to. 


3 


1668 






Same, 2nd title-page. 


4 


1668 


S. Sirmnons 


" 


Same, 4tb 


5 


1669 


" 


" 


Same, Sth 


6 


1672? 


? 


? 


? 


10 

II 


1674 
1678 


S. Simmons 


London 


P. L., 12 bks., 8vo. 
Same. 


14 


1688 


J. Tonson 


'■ 


P. L., fol. 


15 


1691 


? 


? 


P. L. 


i6 


1692 


? 




P. L., fol. 


17 


1695 


J. Tonson 




Ptl. Wks., fol. 


19 


1698 






Ptl. Remains (Gildon), 8to. 


20 


1705 




" 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., 8vo. 


21 


1707 






Ptl. Wks., 2v., 8vo. 


22 


1709 


H. Hills 




With Philips's Cyder. 


23 
24 


1711-3 
1719 


J. Tonson 




Ptl. Wks., 2v, i2mo. 
P. L., pp. 315. i2mo. 


25 


1-20 




" 


Ptl. Wks., 2V., 4to. 


26 


1721 




" 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., i2mo. 


2/ 


1724 


? 


Dublin 


P. L. 




1725 


J. Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 2v. (Fenton), 8vo.i 


29 


1727 


" 




Ptl. Wks., 2v. " 8vo. 


30 


1727 


? 


? 


P. L.. &c., 8vo. 


31 


1730 


J. Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks.. 2V., 8vo. 


32 


1731 






Ptl. Wks., 8vo. 


33 


1732 


" 


" 


P. L. (Bentley), 4to. 


34 


1737 


" 


" 


P. L., 8vo. 


35 


1738 


" 


" 


P. L., 8vo. 


36 


1739 


Stationers 


" 


P. L.. i2mo. 


37 


1741 


J. & R. Tonson 


" 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., 8vo. 


39 


1743 


'■ 


" 


Ptl. Wks., 2V., 8vo. 


40 


1745 


T. Osborne 


" 


P. L., Prose (G. S. Green), 8vo. 


41 


1746-7 


J. & R. Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 3v.. i2mo. 


42 

44 


1747-2 
1747 


S. Powell 


Dublin 


Ptl. Wks,. 2v. (Hawkey) 8vo. 
P. L. revised (Hawkey), 8vo. 


45 
46 


17 49 
1750 


Tonson-Draper 


London 


P. L., 2v. (Newton), 4to. 
P. L.. 2v. (Xewton), 8vo. 


47 


1750 


R.&A.Foulis 


Glasgow 


P. L. f=ed. 1672, pp. 317), 8vo 


48 


1 750 


" 




P. L., Bk. L pp. 167. 


49 


1751 


J. & R. Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., i2mo. 


50 


1751 


R. Walker 




P. L.. 2v. (Marchant). l2mo. 



11725. Elegancies Taken Out of Milton's Paradise Lost, in The Shc/rherd- 
ess's Golden Manuel. 8vo., selected by "Theagines." 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[118 



51 I 


752 






P. L. 2v., " i2mo. 


52 


7S2 


S. Powell 


Dublin 


Ptl. Wks., 2v. (Hawkey), 8vo. 


55 


753 


Tonson-Draper 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., i2mo. 


57 


754 


" 




P. L., 2v. (Newton), 4to. 


58 


754 


Ganeau 


Paris 


P. L., 2v., i6mo. 


59 


755 


T. Osborne (? 


) " 


P. L., Prose (Green), 8vo. 


62 


757 


J.&R.Tonson 


London 


P. L., 2v. (Newton), 8vo. 


63 


758 


J. Baskerville 


Birmingham 


Ptl. Wks., 2v. (Newton-Text), Svo. 


64 


758 


■' 




Ptl. Wks., 2v. (N.-Text), 4to. 


6S I 


759 






Ptl. Wks., 2v. (N.-Text), 4to. 


66 I 


760 


Hitch & Hawes 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., i2mo. 


67 I 


761 


? 


? 


Ptl. Wks., 3v. (Newton), 4to. 


68 


761 


? 


Glasgow 


P. L. 


69 


;6i 


T. Thompson 


London 


P. L., pp. 324, 8vo. 


70 I 


762 


A. Donaldson 


Edinburgh 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., Svo. 


71 


763 


J.&R.Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 4V. (Newton), 8vo. 


72 


763 


J. Wood 


Edinburgh 


P. L., New ed., pp. xiii. 304, l2mo. 


73 


765 






P. L., 2v., i2mo. 


74 


76s 


W. & W. Smith 


Dublin 


P. L., "17th ed.," i2mo. 


7S 


766 


J. Tonson 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 4v. (Newton), Svo. 


76 I 


767 


A. Donaldson 


Edinburgh 


Ptl. Wks., 2v., Svo. 


n 


767 


T.Osborne (? 


London 


P. L., Prose (Green), Svo. 


78 ( 


770) 


? 


" 


P. L., Prose, Svo. 


79 


770 


T.Osborne (?) 




P. L., Prose (Green), Svo. 


80 


770 


J. Beecroft 




Ptl. Wks., 4v. (Newton), Svo. 


81 


770 




" 


P. L., pp. Ixx. 319, i2mo. 


82 


770 


R. & A. Foulis 


Glasgow 


P. L., pp. 466, fol. 


83 


771 


■' 




P. L., 2v., i2nio. 


86 


nZ 


J. Beecroft 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 4v. (Newton), Svo. 


87 I 


773 


J. Exchaw 


Dublin 


Ptl. Wks., 4v. (Newton), Svo. 




773 




Edinburgh 


Brit. Poets, vol. 1-4. 


89 


773 


A. Kincaid 




P. L. (altered), pp. 444, Sto. 


91 


775 


? 


? 


Ptl. Wks.. 4v. (Newton), 4to. 


92 


775 


R. Bladon 


London 


P. L. & P. R., 2v.. i2mo. 


93 


775 


? 


? 


P. L. (Newton), i2nio. 


94 


775 




Phila., Pa. 


P. L. (first Amer. ed.) 


95 


776 


J. Bell 


Edin.-Lond. 


Pts. of Gr. Brit., vol. 35-38, i2mo 


96 


777 


J. Coote 


London 


P. L. (Newton), pp. 332, i2mo. 


98 


778 


W. Strahan 




P. L., pp. Ixxi, 319, i2mo. 


99 


778 


" 


•' 


P. L.. 2v., Svo. 


100 


779 


S. Johnson 


■• 


Eng. Poets, vols. 3-5, Svo. 


102 


782 


J. Bell 




Pts. of Gr. Brit., v. 35-38, l2mo. 


103 


785 


T. Wilson 


Kilmarnock 


P. L.. pp. xvi, 304, i2mo. 


106 


7S8 


j. F. & C. Riving- 








ton 


London 


P. L., Tllus. (Gillies). i2mo. 


107 
108 


790 
790 


S. Johnson 




P. L.. 2v. (Newton). Svo. 
Eng. Poets, v. 10-12, Svo. 



119] THE PUBLICATION OP JIILTOX ' 



109 


1790 


For Booksellers 




Ptl. Wks., 2v., i2mo. 


no 


1709 


J. F.&C. Riving 
ton 




P. L., 2v. (Xevvton), i2mo. 


112 


I79I 


John Wesley, ed. 


. 


Extracts P. L., pp. 335, l2mo. 


113 


1793 


R. Anderson 


Edinburgli 


Brit. Poets, v. 5, 8vo. 


114 


1792 


J. Raekraan 


Bury St. Ed. 


P. L., Bk. I (Lofft), 4to. 


115 


1793 




" 


Same, Bks. I-IL 


Ii6 


1793 


B. White & Son 


London 


P. L., lUiis. (Gillies), i2mo. 


If? 


1793 


Jos. Ritson, ed. 


•• 


P. L., Bk. I (Eng. Anthology), 8v 


IIP 


1794-7 


Boydell-Xichol 




Ptl. Wks. (Cowper-Hayley), fol. 


120 


1794 


T.& H. Richter 




P. L., pp. 493, L. P., 4to. 


121 


1794 






P. L. (Eng. &Ital.),8vo. 


122 


1795-6 


T. Longman 


London 


Ptl. Wks., 2V., 8vo. 


123 


1795-6 


C. Cooke 




Ptl. Wks., 2v. (Newton), i2mo. 


124 


1795 


T. Raekman 




P. L., Bks. I-IV. (Lofft). 4to. 


125 


1795 


C. M.. editor 




P. L., 3v., i2mo. 


12; 


1796 


J. Parsons 


" 


P. L., 2v. (Newton), 8vo. 


128 


1799 


T. Heptinstall 




P. L., pp. xlix, 371, 8vo. 


130 


iSoi 


J. Johnson 


" 


Ptl. Wks., 6v. (H. J. Todd), 8vo. 



Paradise Lost was first published as "A Poem, in Ten Books," in 
1667, with Milton's name in the title-page. The printing and sale of 
the poem were in the hands of Peter Parker. Numbers 2-6 above 
represent only parts of the original edition, which was placed on the 
market by installments. When the first part was sold, a new installment 
would be bound, with a new title-page bearing the date of the binding, 
and offered for sale. In this way, the first edition of the poem came to 
be represented by nine different title-pages. To one of those issues of 
the poem, in 1668, Milton added the Preface on the Verse, and the 
Argument. About the same time the publication of the poem passed 
into the hands of S. Simmons, who owned the copyright. He issued 
number 4 to be sold by S. Thompson, and number 5 to be sold by 
T. Helder. 

Wlien the first edition was exhausted, a "second edition revised 
and augmented" by Milton himself, appeared in the year of his death 
(1674). The third edition was published in 1678; the fourth, in 1688. 
Beyond this date, it is difficult to speak with much certainty about the 
numbers of editions. Numbers do not seem to represent a single series 
of editions. One may find a "6th" edition of Paradise Regained in 
1695, and "the 4th" edition in 1705. There was a "7th edition" of 
the Minor Poems in 1727, and a "7th edition, corrected," in 1730. The 
confusion of the early editions of Paradise Lost was so great that even 
Richardson felt unable to clear up the matter, in his Life of Milton, as 
early as 1734.= At a distance of two centuries, one can only hope for 
"-Life of Milton, 1734. P- c.xvii. 



28 THE MILTON TRADITION [120 

au approximate correctness, even in the most careful study of tliose 
early "editions." 

After 1670, Faithborne 's portrait of Milton was ready to occupy 
a conspicuous place in the book.^ The edition of 1688 was almost an 
event of national history, in that it was connected with the Whig inter- 
ests of that year. This magnificent edition was published by M. Flesher, 
for Jacob Tonson, in large folio, under subscription, and financed by 
Lord Dorset. This was the first ornamented edition of the poem, and 
Mr. Perry says that this edition was one of the first books ever published 
by subscription." It was a splendid piece of work, and became a house- 
hold treasure.'^ The subscription list contained 500 of the best names 
in England at that time, and speaks convincingly of the early recog- 
nition of Paradise Lost. 

The number of copies in the early editions is largely a matter for 
conjecture. The contract between Milton and the publisher specified 
that none of the first three editions were to go beyond fifteen hundred 
copies. It seems that about thirteen hundred copies were sold during 
the first eighteen months after the publication of the poem in 1667. 
Dr. Johnson thought that 3,000 copies were sold during the first eleven 
years." Mr. Havens estimated that there were probably 4,000 copies of 
Paradise Lost in circulation in the year 1680. The purely literary 
interest in the poem must, therefore, have been considerable before the 
popularizing movement of 1688. 

The distinctly commercial aspects of the poem are not without 
historical interest. According to Masson," Samuel Simmons, upon pay- 
ing Milton five pounds down, and five pounds for each of three suc- 
ceeding editions, was to obtain full possession of the copyright of 
Paradise Lost. Milton received ten pounds, and, after his death, Sim- 
mons, by composition with Milton's widow, closed the contract by paying 
her eight pounds more. In 1680 or 1681, Simmons sold his copj^ight 
to Brabazon Aylmer for twenty-five pounds. He, in turn, sold one- 
half interest in the copyright to Jacob Tonson, at more than one hun- 
dred per cent advance upon the price paid to Simmons.* On March 24, 
1691, Tonson bought of Aylmer the other half of the copyright "at an 
advanced price.'' About this time, Tonson also came into control, if 
not into full possession, of the other poems of Milton. In a commercial 
sense, at least, Milton had, by these transactions, fallen upon prosperous 

^iBr. Mu. Cat. "Milton," P. L., ed. i668. 

*T. S. Perry, Eng. Lit. in the i8 Century, p. 25J. 

■ ^Cf. Tributes 19 and 20, p. 58 below. 

"Johnson, Life of Milton. (G. B. Hill). I, 141-144. 

■'History of Milton, 6:780-78-. 

'Tonson bought the first half on August 17, 1683. 



121] THE PUBLICATION OF MILTON 's WORKS 29 

times. Jacob Tonsoii, notwithstanding his "leering looks, bull-faced, 
and freckled fair" appearance, was a thoroughgoing business man. He 
kept the copyright in his own possession, pushed the publication and 
sale of the poetry, especially of Paradise Lost, and made a fortune out 
of his interest in the great English Poet.^ 

Tonson made the poem attractive in form and appearance. He 
produced it in all sizes, from the handy pocket edition quarto, to the 
large ornamented edition folio. He used the best materials available, 
and probably engaged the best talent for the work of engraving and 
binding that the times could afford. He was constantly on the alert 
for new and helpful additions to the work in the way of notes and 
illustrations. He planned with Patrick Hume the first annotated edi- 
tion of the poem (1695). The Tonsons, by constantly encouraging 
critical activities upon the poem, did much to prepare the way for the 

^Three Jacob Tonsons continued the printing business for almost a century. 
The succession was: Jacob Tonson (1656-1737); his nephew, Jacob Tonson 
(d. 1736) ; his son, Jacob Tonson (d. 1767) succeeded by Andrew Millar; succeeded 
by Thomas Cadell. For forty years the Tonsons had a monopoly on Milton's 
poetry, and grew rich from the traffic therein. (Masson, 6:788; and Johnson's Life 
of Milton (Hill), I, 160, note 4). The Elder Tonson had a large painting of himself, 
made by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), sitting with a folio of Paradise Lost 
resting against his left arm ; a full page reproduction of which may be seen in 
Mr. Pope, His Life and Times, by Geo. Paston (Emily Morse Symonds), London, 
1909, p. 22. This first Tonson was "close" in business matters ; but the third was 
very generous and more liberal, "a man who is to be praised as often as he is 
named." (Johnson, ref. above). He paid Newton £630 for Paradise Lost (1749), 
and ii05 for Paradise Regained (1752). (Gent. Mag., May, 1787, p. 76). From 
these proceeds, Newton "brought a large contribution" for Mrs. Foster, Milton's 
grand-daughter, and Tonson gave £20 (Johnson, above). 

The very document of the original Contract between Milton and Simmons 
became an article of commercial value. This Contract was still in the hands of the 
third Tonson in 1750 (Nezsjton's Life). After Tonson's death (1767), their printing 
business ceased, and their papers were scattered. The Contract was lost from sight 
until 1824. At that time it was sold, by a tailor, with other Tonson papers, to 
Septimus Prowett, a London book-seller, for £25. These papers Prowett sold at 
auction. Feb. 28, 1826, when the Contract alone was bought by Pickering, for £45, 3s. 
He sold it for £60 to Sir Thomas Lawrence, at whose death (1830) it fell again 
into the hands of Pickering, who sold it again to the poet Rogers. Rogers had 
acquired possession of Dryden's contract for the Fables, and Goldsmith's contract 
with James Dodsley (March 31st, 1763) for The Chronological History of the 
Lives of Eminent Persons of Great Britain and Ireland. All three of these 
Contracts Mr. Rogers presented, as a gift to the Nation, to the British Museum, 
where they are kept together (Masson, Life of Milton, vi, p. siin. John Foster, 
The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, 2 vols., 1871, p. 274, 339n). 



30 THE HILTON TRADITION [122 

first variorum edition of Paradise Lost, edited by Tliomas Newton, and 
published by Tonson and Draper in 1749. 

Paradise Lost was first published in Dublin in 1724, which was a 
quarter of a century before any other poem of Milton, except the 
adaptations of Comus and Samson, was printed in Ireland. There 
were three editions of Paradise Lost in Scotland (A47, 48, 68), 
before the Minor Poems were published in that country (1762). The 
first of these editions (A47) harks back to an edition of 1672, no other 
mention of which has been found. The second (A48) contained an 
elaborate commentary on Book I of the Epic. 

The mid-century period (Chapter vi below) was a time of great 
activity among editors and commentators, and almost every edition of 
Paradise Lost was supplied with some kind of notes or criticism. The 
plan persisted to some extent throughout the century. The accumulat- 
ing materials of this kind were used b.y Newton for the first variorum 
edition (1749), and by Todd for the second variorum edition (1801). 

In 1765, W. & W. Smith published in Dublin a "seventeenth edi- 
tion" of Paradise Lost with a Glossary and other helps (A74). Just 
what was meant by this ' ' seventeenth edition ' ' seems impossible to deter- 
mine ; for the number seems not to harmonize with any of the earlier 
numbering of editions. The Scotch editions indicate an especial interest 
in the poem. Foulis, of Glasgow, made an effort to furnish to his 
countrymen an extra finely printed folio edition of Paradise Lost, in 
1770 (A82). A presentation copy of this edition, now in the British 
Museum, was sent by the binder, J. Scott, to King George the Third. 
Toward the end of the century, there was a tendency in the direction 
of elaborate engraving for the ornamentation of the poem. This ten- 
dency produced many beautiful title-pages (Cf. A125 and 126), and 
excellent illustrations. The tendency itself was a part of that general 
interest which resulted in the Milton Gallery, by Fuseli.^" 

ii'The possibility of subjects for the painter from Paradise Lost was early 
realized. Beginning with Tonson's folio edition of l688, the Epic was usually 
"ornamented with sculptures." Steele showed some special interest in this aspect 
of the poem in his Tatler papers (Chapter v below). J. Richardson, who was him- 
self a painter, has, in his Explanatory Notes (1734), a reference from the "Table 
of Principal Subjects" to "Pictures," pp. 544-545. These are word-pictures, 44 in 
number, but were suggestive for the brush. The World (No. 121, April 24, 1755), 
in An Imaginary Visit to Parnassus, represented a marble temple, adorned with fine 
scenes painted from Homer. Virgil, and Paradise Lost. 

But it was left for John Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) to work out these suggestions 
into the "Milton Gallery." "His art-loving family was on intimate terms with the 
literary circle at Zurich, which claims to have started the Romantic Movement 
in general literature, represented by J. J. Bodmer, J. J. Breitinger, and the painter- 
poet, Solomon Gessner, who stood sponsor to the infant Heinrich." Fuseli studied 



123] the publication of milton 's works 31 

Section 2 Publication op Paradise Regained 

Turning from the greater Epic to the less, one faces a proportionate 
decrease in editions that holds good for almost every phase of interest 
in the two Epics. While in the case of Paradise Lost, the tendency was 
to multiply the number of spearate editions, and to spare no means of 
exalting the merits of that great poem, in the case of Paradise Regained 
the tendency was to publish the lesser Epic as a part of The Poetical 
Works of Milton. But even in this connection, the smaller Epic was 
exalted as the second most considerable part of Milton's poetry. It was 
declared to be inferior only in comparison with the Paradise Lost.^^ 

at the Collegium Carolinum at Zurich, of which Bodmer and Breitinger were 
professors. He knew English, French, Italian, Greek, and Latin. He was an ardent 
student of Shakespeare, Richardson, iVIilton, Dante, Rousseau, and the Bible, all of 
which furnished materials for his pencil. 

Fuseli went to England in the end of 1763, and was in Rome in 1770-8, where 
he sketched some of the ideas of Milton, Dante, and Shakespeare, which were 
afterwards worked into his more famous pictures. Later he revisited Zurich, and 
then returned to England. He was a friend to Dr. Armstrong (Art of Health, 
ii, 236). In 1780, he painted the Ithurial scene from Milton (Cf. Steele, Tatlcr, 
237, Oct. 14, 1710). 

The "Milton Gallery" was the outcome of the elaborate edition of Milton, 
proposed by Johnson in 1790, to rival that of Boydell's Shakespeare. Cowper was 
to have edited the work. Fuseli was to have painted the pictures. Sharp, B'arto- 
lozzi, Blake, and others, were to have made the engravings. But the project 
failed. Fuseli, however, transformed his enthusiasm into the "Milton Gallery," 
which was opened May 26, 1799, with forty pictures. It was closed after two 
months ; but was opened next year, with seven new pictures, at the vacated rooms of 
the Royal Academy, in Pall Mall. 

Most of the scenes were taken from Paradise Lost. The Lazar House, and 
the Deluge seem to have been very attractive to this imaginative artist. But the 
Gallery was, in general, felt to be unsatisfactory, because of its "wild extrava- 
gance" (Lionel Cust, D. N. B. "Fuseli"). 

Miss Seward applauded this undertaking of Fuseli, in her Anecdotes of Some 
Distinguished Persons, chiefly of the present, and preceding centuries, vol. iv, 
1796. See Mo. Rev., April, 1797, 103(22) :38s-392. Thomas Green visited the 
Gallery on June 3, 1799, and criticized Fuseli as "rather bombastic than sublime" 
(Extracts from Diary). John Flaxman (1755-1826), the painter, drew his subjects 
from Dante, rather than from Milton, for three reasons, (i) He was unwilling 
to interfere with Fuseli. (2) Because Dante supplied more figures. (3) He had 
heard that Michael Angelo had made a number of designs in the margin of a copy 
of Dante. Yet Flaxman regarded "Milton the very greatest of poets." (H. C. 
Robinson, Diary, Jan. 17. 181 1, I, 319). 

"Giles Jacob (1686-1744), An Account of the Lives of Our Most Considerable 
English Poets. 1720. II, 106 



32 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



The general attitude toward the Paradise Regained will appear in the 
list of editions, and the comments that follow. 



S.A. 
S.A. 



743 

7A(^7 

747-2 

747 

751 

752 

752 

752 

753 

753 

755 

756 

758 

758 

759 

760 

761 

762 

763 

766 

767 



S.A. 

S.A. 

PtI. Wks. 

Minor Poems 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl, Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems. 

Minor Poems. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems. 

Minor Poems. 

IMinor Poems. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

Ptl. Wks. 

The Recovery of Man 



Separate Editions 
(1645. Poems on Several Occasions). 
J. Starkey, London. P. R., 4 Bks. 8 vo. 

Same. 
(1673. Poems on Several Occasions). 
J. Starkey, London. P. R. &c., pp. 132, 



R. Tavlor, 



Tonson?, Londc 



P. R., S. A., 



Tonson, London. 8vo. 



R. Foulis, Glasgow. 12 mo. 



Tons< 
R. & 



(Xevvton). London. 4 to., pp. 690. 
Foulis, Glasgow, umo., pp. 380. 



Tonson-Draper (Newton). L. 8vo. 

J. Wood. Glasgow. 8vo., pp. 315. 

J. & R. Tonson. London. i2mo., pp. 351. 



or Paradise Regained, 
l2mo. 



Prose. London, 



125] THE PUBLICATION OP MILTON 's WORKS 33 

85 1772 Minor Poems. R. & A. Foulis (Newton). Glasgow. 2 vols., i2mo. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems. Newton edition. 4to. 
Ptl. Wks. 
P. Lost. 
Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems. W. Strahan (Newton), "new ed." 4to., 690. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Paradise Regained, in Four Books. 121110., pp. 108. Tophis and 

Burney, London. 
Ptl. Wks. 

Minor Poems. W. Strahan (N.), London. 2 vols, 8vo. 
(1785. Poems on Sev. Occasions, ed. T. Warton). 
Ptl. Wks. 
Ptl. Wks. 

(1791. Poems on Sev. Occasions. 2nd ed. Warton). 
Ptl. Wks. 
Paradise Regained, in Four Books. i2mo., pp. 94. J. Catnach. 

Alnwick. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Ptl. Wks. 
Paradise Regained, with Notes, &c. By Chas. Dunster. 4to., pp. iv, 

280. Cadell & Davies, London. 

129 (1800) Paradise Regained. 4to., pp. vi, 280. R. H. Evans, London. Notes, 

&c., by C. Dunster. 

130 1801 Ptl. Wks, 

Paradise Regained, a Poem in Four Books, with Milton's name on 
the title-page, was published, with Samson Agonistes, in 1671. It seems 
that this edition was re-issued in 1672. The two poems were published 
together in a new edition in 1680, and again in 1688. The smaller Epic 
next appeared as a part of Milton's Poetical Works in 1695. From that 
time. Paradise Regained became the chief element in a second part of 
the complete poetical works. The division into two parts was due, in 
large measure, to the extra attention given to Paradise Lost. That 
poem, with its accumulation of critical materials, which began early to 
assume importance, was set off, as a first part of the works, against a 
second part whose title usually read : 

Paradise Regained . ... To Which is added 
Samson Agonistes, the Poems on Several 
Occasions, and the Tractate of Education. 

Under this arrangement of Milton's poetry, the editions of Para- 



86 


I "3 


8/ 


1773 


88 


1773 


90 


1774 


91 


1775 


92 


1775 


95 


1776 


97 


1777 


lOO 


1779 


lOI 


1779 


102 


1782 


104 


1785 


105 




io8 


1790 


109 


1790 


III 




113 


1793 


ii8 


1793 


119 


1794-7 


122 


1795-6 


123 


1795-6 


126 


1795 



34 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[126 



disc Lost might easily be multiplied, and the Minor Poems were almost 
uniformly subordinated to the lesser Epic. The two preceding lists of 
editions may be summarized as in the following table : 

Manner of printing Paradise Paradise Minor 

Lost Regained Poems 

In Poetical Works 42 42 42 

In separate editions 53 44 

P. R. + Minor Poems 12 12 

P. L. + P. R I I 

With Samson Agonistes 4 

In Prose editions 5 i 

Total editions lOl 64 58 

Section 3 Publication of Samson Agonistes 

Of Samson Agonistes, little needs to be said, more than appears 
in the list of editions. The poem first appeared, with Paradise Regained, 
in 1671, and subsequently in the same combination, in 1672?, 1680, and 
1688. It became a part of The Poetical Works in 1695, and seems never 
to have been printed in separate edition, except in the adapted forms, 
as indicated in the following list of editions : 

A; 1671 I- 1695 21 1-07 28 I-2S 37 1741 

8 1672 18 1695 23 1713 29 1727 38 1742 

12 1680 19 1698 25 1720 31 1730 

13 1688 20 1705 26 1721 32 1731 

1742 Hamilton Adaptation.'- J. Hardy London. pp. 22, 4to. 

1742 " " •' " pp. 23, 4to. 

1742 " " J.&R. Tonson " pp. 23, 4to. 

1743 " " " " pp. 32, 8vo. 

39 1743 41 1747 42 1752 43 1747 

1749 Oxford Adaptation. ? 8vo. 

1751 Hamilton Adaptation. Tonson &c. London 8vo. 

49 1751 54 1752 60 1755 64 1758 

52 1752 55 1753 61 1756 65 1759 

53 1752 56 1753 63 1758 

1759 Hamilton Adaptation. J. & R. Tonson London 8vo. 

66 1760 67 1 761 

1762 Hamilton Adaptation. J. & R. Tonson London 4to. 

^'Samson Agonistes. An Oratorio, in three ads. As performed in the Theatre 
Royal. Altered from Milton (by N. Hamilton). Set to music by Mr. Handel. 



127] 



THE PUBLICATION OF MILTON S WORKS 



35 



70 1762 




71 1763 














176s ? 




Adaptation. 




? 




Salisbury 


4to. 




75 1766 




85 17-2 




88 1773 




95 1776 


102 


1782 


76 1767 




86 1773 




90 1774 




97 1777 


104 


1785 


80 1770 




87 .773 




91 1775 




100 1779 






1788 Tr. 


into 


Greek, by G. 


H. 


Glasse. Oxford. 


, Faulder. 


8vo. 




108 1790 




113 1793 




V22 1796 




123 1796 


130 


1801 


109 1790 




119 1797 















1797. Brit. Theatre, v. 34. 



J. Bell 



Section 4 Publication op Comus 

Comits, "as adapted for the stage," appeared in many separate 
editions. But apart from these adaptations, there seem to have been 
only five editions of the Mask separately printed. The first of these 
separate editions were the first two editions of the poem. The third was 
in 1747. The last two were at the very end of the Eighteentli Century. 
The Mask was, however, printed in various forms, as follows : 



1637 Comus, as acted at Ludlow, 1634. H. Lawes. 

1638 Comus. J. Hughs. 



A I 1645 


19 1698 


25 1720 


31 


1730 


9 1673 


20 1705 


26 1721 


22 


1731 


17 169s 


21 1707 


28 1725 






18 169s 


23 1713 


29 1727 






1738 Dalton 


.'Xdaptation.'-' 


R. Dodsley. 




London 


1738 




" 




" 


1738 










1738 


'■ 


S. Powell. 




Dublin. 


Z7 1 741 


38 1742 


39 1743 







1744? Dalton Adaptation. 
1747 Comtis (Original Text) 



4to. 



1750 Dalton Adaptation. 



43 1747 
A. Millar. 



London. 



^Komus, a Mask: (3 acts) as altered by John Dalton, from Milton's Mask. 
pp. 52. 

In 1737, P. Rolli published Sabrina, a Masque: (in three acts and in verse. 
Founded on the Comus of Milton), pp. 61. Italian & English. J. Crichley. Lon- 
don. 8vo. 



36 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[128 



49 1751 54 1752 


60 1755 


64 1758 




52 1752 55 1753 


61 1756 


65 I7S9 




S3 1752 56 1753 


63 1758 






1759 Dalton Adaptation. 


A. Millar. 


London. 


8vo. 


1760 


" 


" 


8vo. 


66 1760 67 1761 


70 1762 






1762 Dalton Adaptation. 


A. Millar. 


London. 


8vo. 


71 1763 75 1766 


76 1767 


80 1770 




1772 Colnian Adaptation 


? 


London. 


8vo. (2 acts) 


85 1772 86 1773 


87 1773 


88 1773 




1774 Colman Adaptation 


? 


London. 


8vo. 


90 1774 91 1775 


95 1776 


97 1777 




1776 Colman Adaptation. 


J. Bell. 


London. 


Br. Theatre. 9. 


1777 






i2mo. 


1777 


J. Wenman 


? 


8vo. 



100 1779 102 1782 

1784 Colman Adaptation. 



1786 Colman Adaptation. 
1789 V. Knox, editor. 



1790 log 1790 

Dalton Adaptation. 
1793 119 1794 



J. Bell. 



Supple 





ment Br. Theatre, v. 


? 

? 


Edin. 
Lond. 


Br. Stage, v. 
Ele. Extracts. 


Ill I79I 






J. Bell. 


Lond. 


Br. Thea. v. I 


122 1795 


123 1795 




J. Bell. 

W. Bristow. 

J. Bell. 

E. Harding. 


Lond. 
Canterbury- 
London. 


Br. Thea. v. I 
.8vo. 

Br. The v. i. 
pp. 124. 8vo. 
Ele. E.xtracts. 



1797 Dalton Adaptation. 

1798 H. J. Todd, editor. 

1799 Dalton Adaptation. 
1799 T. Warton, editor. 
1801 V. Knox, editor. 

130 1801 

Comus was written by Milton, acted at Ludlow Castle, in 1634, and 
printed by Henry Lawes in 1637. The next year, J. Hughs brought 
out a second edition. The Mask became at once a part of the Poems 
on Several Occasions (164.5). As such alone was it printed for exactly 



129] THE PUBLICATION OF MILTON 's WORKS 37 

one hundred years. In 1738, it was adapted for the stage, in three 
acts, by the Rev. John Dalton. This Adaptation was popular both on 
the stage and on the market, resulting in many editions, and one or 
more attempts later to share the glory that came to Dr. Dalton. 

Dodsley's edition in 1741 was the sixth, and in aU probability the 
Adaptation was printed by him in other editions in 1739 and 1740. 
There seems also to have been an edition in 1744, for Bell's edition in 
1799 is said to follow the Adaptation of 1744. It is noteworthy, that 
this popular Adaptation seems to have been the first of Milton's Minor 
Poems published iu Ireland, and this event occurred when the poem 
was about one hundred years old. 

It may have been the popularity of this early Adaptation that 
provoked some conservative spirit to bring out an edition of the original 
text of the Ludlow Masque in 1747. This edition seems, however, not 
to have hindered the popularity of the Dalton Adaptation, which con- 
tinued to re-appear at intervals to the very end of the century. 

In 1772, George Colman transformed Milton's Comus into a 
Masque of two acts, for the Theatre-Royal in Covent Garden. The 
music for this Masque was composed by Dr. Arne; but even this excel- 
lent support of music did not enable this Adaptation to attain the 
measure of popularity enjoyed by that of Dr. Dalton. 

From this account, it appears that the original Comus was printed 
sixty-three times, and the several adaptations eighteen times, making a 
total of eighty-one editions for Comus during the period covered by this 
discussion. 

Section 5 Publication op Lycidas 

Lycidas never had many attractions for the stage, though there 
was an unsuccessful attempt to turn it into a "musical entertainment" 
on one occasion. The poem was, however, more popular in the miscel- 
laneous coUeetions of poetry than any of the Minor Poems thus far 
considered. Lycidas, in various ways, appeared as follows: 

1638 Lycidas, Memorial Volume. T. Buck & R. Daniel. Cambridge 

Ai 164s 17 169s" 19 1698 21 1707 

9 1673 18 169s 20 170S 23 1713 

1716 Dryden's Miscellany, 4th ed. (Inserted by Fenton). 

25 1720 26 1721 28 1725 29 1727 

1727 Dryden's Miscellany, sth ed. 
**In 1694, Lycidas was translated into Latin by G. Hog, and printed in quarto, 
pp. 19. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [130 



32 I73I 


54 


1752 


70 


1762 


91 


1775 


37 1741 


55 


1753 


71 


1763 


95 


1776 


38 1742 


56 


1753 


75 


1766 


97 


1777 


39 1743 


60 


1755 


76 


176713 


100 


1779 


41 1747 


61 


1756 


80 


1770 


102 


1782 


42 1752 


63 


1758 


85 


1772 


104 


1785 


43 1747 


64 


1758 


86 


1773 


105 


1785 


49 I7SI 


65 


1759 


87 


1773 






52 I7S2 


66 


1760 


88 


1773 







1789 Knox's Elegant Extracts, ed. 1809. Book iv. No. 3. 

108 1790 109 1790 III 1791 113 1793 

1793 Ritson's English Anthology. I, 45. (Has i sonnet). 

119 1797'" 122 1796 123 1796 130 1801 

1801 Knox's Elegant Extracts. 

Section 6 Publication of the Companion Poems 

L 'Allegro and II Penseroso 

By far the most popular of Milton 's Minor Poems during the Eight- 
eenth Century were the Companion Poems, L' Allegro and II Penseroso. 
But with all their popularity, these poems were published in very few 
separate editions, as is indicated in the following list, where both poems 
appear together unless otherwise indicated. 



Ai 


i64S 


17 


1695 


19 


1698 


21 


1707 


9 


1673 


18 


1695 


20 


1705 


23 


1713 



1716 Dryden's Miscellany, 4th ed. (By Fenton). 

25 1720 26 1721 28 1725 29 1727 

1727 Dryden's Miscellany, 5th ed. 

31 1730 32 1731 

i^In 1767, there was printed Lycidas: a Musical Entertainment. As it is per- 
formed at the Theatre Royal in Covcnt Garden. The Words altered from Milton. 
By W. Jackson. London. 8vo. 

"Milton's Lycidas is here applied to the late breach made in the Royal Family, 
by the death of the Duke of York. The design was absurd, and the performance 
was treated as such a piece of impertinence deserved." The idea of "mourning 
amusements" was ridiculed. Mo. Rev. Nov., 1767. 37:393- 

»«In 1797, J. Plumptre published Miltonis Poema Lycidas, Graece redditum. 
pp. 27. Cambridge. 4to. 



131] THE PUBLICATION OP MILTON 's WORKS 

1740 Jennens-Handel Adaptation. 



1740 


" 




"Another edition. 


37 I -41 


39 


1743 


4^ 1752 


38 1742 


41 


1747 


43 1747 



1750 Jennens-Handel Adaptation. London. 8vo. 

1751 L'Allegro-Il Penseroso, pp. 22. Foulis, Glasgow. 4to. 



1752 L'Allegro, Translated into Latin, with English Text. By Christopher 
Smart. Poems on Several Occasions. 2v. 8vo. 1752. vol. IL 113 fi. 

52 1752 53 1752 54 1752 55 1753 56 1753 

1754 Jennens-Handel .Adaptation (With Dryden's Sonij for St. Cecilia's Day). 

Tonson. 4to., pp. 20. 



60 


1755 


63 


1758 


65 


1759 


67 1761 


71 1763 


61 


1756 


64 


1758 


66 


1760 


70 1762 


75 1766 



1763 Smart's Poems on Several Occasions. 4to. 

1766 Translation into French. 

1767 Goldsmith's The Beauties of English Poesy. Nos. 2-3. 

76 1767 85 1772 87 1773 90 1774 95 1776 

80 1770 86 1773 88 1773 91 1775 

1776 Goldsmith's The Beauties of English Poesy. 

97 1777 100 1779 

1779 Jennens-Handel Adaptation. (Warton's Milton, 1791, xii.) 
1782 Translation into German Prose. English opposite, pp. 31, 8vo. Mann- 
heim. 
102 1782 104 1785 105 1785 

1789 Knox's Elegant E.xtracts. 

108 1790 109 1790 III 1791 

1791 Poems of the late C. Smart. 2v. Reading. i6mo. 

1793 Ritson's English Anthology. 1. 32, 38. 

113 1793 

1794 J. Roach's Beauties of the Poets of Gr. Brit. v. 3. 

1795 Smart's Poems (.Anderson, 11:185). Only Latin Trans. 

119 1797 122 1796 123 1796 

1799 T. Warton, Account of the Origin of Conius, with 
Comus and Companion Poems. London. 8vo. 



40 THE MILTON TRADITION [132 

1801 Knox's Elegant Extracts. 
130 1801 

L'Allegro aud II Pcnscroso were written duriug Milton's quiet re- 
tirement at his father's home at Horton. They seem, however, not to 
have been printed until the Poems on Several Occasions, in 1645. From 
that setting, they were first removed for the fifth edition of Dryden's 
Miscellany in 1716. 

In 1740, these poems were re-arranged by Charles Jenneus (1700- 
1773 ) , and set to music by his friend, Mr. Handel, whom Thomas War- 
ton thought more honoured than honouring in thus having his music 
'^married to immortal verse. "^~ This oratorio arrangement of the 
poems was very popular, and the poems in this form went through 
manj' separate editions, as shown in the preceding list. Handel's name 
was often associated with this connection between his music and Milton's 
popular poems, and it may have been the reputation of this combina- 
tion that led to the translation of the Companion Poems into French 
(1766), and into German (1782). 

In 1751, R. & A. Foulis printed, in Glasgow, what seems to have 
been the only edition of the Companion Poems, apart from the adapta- 
tions, that was separately printed duriug the period under discussion. 
In all their forms, these poems appeared in print, according to the above 
tabulation, seventy -nine times up to the year 1801. 

Section 7 Publication op the Smaller Pieces op Milton's 
Minor Poems 

It is sufficient only to make a general mention of these smaller 
pieces of Milton's poetry. Very early most of them were gathered 
into the Poems on Several Occasions, in 1645. Some of them, of course, 
were written later, and additions were made to the second edition of 
the Minor Poems in 1673. Some additions were made in later editions 
of the Poetical Works, but none have been noticed after the edition of 
1711-13. 

Few of these smaller poems ever appeared otherwise than in com- 
bination with the other Minor Poems. In 1692, Julii Mazirini, Cardi- 
nalis, Epitaphium: Author e John Milton was included in Gildon's 
Miscellaneous Poems on Several Occasions. Ten years later (1702), 
Directions to a Painter concerning the Dutch War, by Sir John Den- 
ham, 1667, appeared in Poems on State Affairs; but the editor claimed 
that this poem was "believed to be writ by Mr. Milton.'"' 

The Latin and Italian poems of Milton came to have considerable 

^''Milton's Poems on Scv. Occs., ed. I/Qi, p. xii. 

^^Poems on Affairs of State, 5th ed., 1702. I, 24 and "Index." 



133] THE PL'BLICATION OF MILTON 's WORKS 41 

interest before the end of tlie Eighteenth Century. The Latin poems 
were not granted the rank of classical poetry without considerable de- 
bate. For the non-Latin reading public some of these were translated 
into English, and printed in that form. In this form Mansus appeared 
among the poems of the Rev. Joseph Sterling, a student and imitator 
of Milton, about the year 1789 ; biit the translation was neither faithful 
to the original nor otherwise possessed of much merit.'^ 

In 1776, Milton's Italian Poems had been "translated, and ad- 
dressed to a Gentleman of Italy." This was the work of the Rev. John 
Langhorne, who addressed his Translations to Sig. Mozzi, of Macerata, 
an Italian gentleman of taste and genius. Contemporary criticism was 
favourable to the publication, exalting both Milton's excellence in the 
use of foreign languages, and Dr. Langhorne 's ability to produce an 
elegant version in the spirit of the original.-" 

Thomas Warton concerned himself in the Latin and Italian poems 
of Milton to the extent of almost two hundred pages in his editions of 
the Minor Poems in 1785 and 1791. Between the two editions by War- 
ton, Philip Neve, in his Cursory Remarks (1789), took pains to empha- 
size the large biographical content of these poems, and to indicate some 
Latin and Italian sources." In 1791, the poet William Cowper began 
a complete poetical translation of the Latin-Italian poems of Milton for 
the Cowper-Hayley edition of Milton's Complete Poetical Works, which 
was published in 1794-7.-- This work seems to have taxed the strength 
of the poet, whose health at the time was declining, and much interesting 
matter on the progress and difficulties of the work appeared in his 
Letters to various friends. 

Section 8 Publication of Milton's English Poems in Latin 
AND Greek Translations 

The translation of Milton into the Classical Languages began early, 
and resulted in several separate editions of his more important poems. 
Here, as usual, however, the Major Epic absorbed the larger share of 
Interest. 

Paradise Lost, Book I, was translated, by Mr. Power, into Latin 
and published in 1686, and again in 1691. The Translation seems to 
have been completed, published in folio 1692, and a copy of it presented, 

^sPoems by the Rei: /— S— . Cr. Rev. May, 1789, 67:368. 

^oMilton's Italian Poems. &c. T. Beckett, London, 4to. iyy6. pp. 16. Mo. 
Rev. Nov., 1776, 55:383-5. Cr. Rev. Nov., 1776, 42:389- See Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 
1810, 16:462-3, 473-5. 

=iPhilip Neve, Cursory Remarks (1789), pp. 116-120. 

'-The Poetical Jl'orks of U')n. Cowper. 3 vols., edited by J. Bruce, 1S96, 
vol. Ill, 147-214, for these Translations. 



42 THE MILTON TRADITION [134 

by Dr. Bentley, to the Trinity College Library. '' The whole of Paradise 
Lost, together with Paradise Regained and Samson Agonisfcs, was trans- 
lated by W. Hog, in 1690.=* 

Another complete translation of Paradise Lost was published in 
1702. This was the work of M. Bold, which re-appeared in 1717, and 
in a quarto edition in 1736. In the year 1736, Kichard Dawes (1708- 
1766) produced a Greek translation of Paradise Lost, Book 1., which 
for want of popularity was called iu by the author. =■' Perhaps earlier 
than this Greek version, Samuel Say (1676-1743) had translated the 
opening part of Paradise Lost into Latin hexameter.^" Robert Pitt, a 
brother to Christopher Pitt, after being elected fellow of Wadham in 
1719, displayed scholarly taste in a Translation into Latin of five books 
of Milton's Paradise Lost.-'' 

In 1741-44, Joseph Trapp (1679-1747) published, at his own ex- 
pense and heavy loss, a ponderous two volume Translation of Paradise 
Lost into Latin.'-^ More successful was the two volume edition by Wil- 
liam Dobson, which appeared in 1750-53. This was pronounced "a 
great work, whether we regard the sublimity and excellence of the 
original poem, or its length, and the frequent difficulty of translating 
it." This work was said to have been "executed in a happy manner."-" 
Fourteen .years later the Critical Review thought that Dobson "deserves 
a public reward from his country, for having extended and immortalized 
the fame of the great English poet Milton, in his admirable Translation 
of Paradise Lost.'""'" 

In perfect harmony with the above sentiment, was that of Dr. 
James Beattie, when he affirmed that "many of the finest performances 
of Pope, Dryden, and Milton, have appeared not ungracefully in a 
Roman Dress."" That these Translations really had some measure of 
general interest was evident from the fact that The Gentleman's Maga- 
zine planned to print specimens from six translations for general com- 
parison. Five only were printed, at first, and some of those indicated 
translations other than those considered in the preceding discussion.^^ 
After the mid-century, no new Latin version of either Epic seems to 

23Nichols, Lit. Illus., I, 8o. 

-^Printed by John Darby, London. 8vo., 1690, pp. xxxvi, 510. 
25Cr. Rev., May, 1782, 53:353-4- 
"^Poems . . . Two Essays. Pub. 1745. 
"T. Seccombe. D. N. B., "Chr. Pitt." 

28Gent. Mag., June, 1744, I4:344- W. P. Courtney. D. X. B. "Trapp." 
=5Mo. Rev., Feb., 1754. 10:136-144- 
30Cr. Rev., July, 1757, 4:90. 

3iOii the Utilify of Classical Learning. Essay on Truth, ed. 1777, vol. II, 
521-522. 

3=Gent. Mag., Oct. and Dec, 1746. 16:548-549, 661. 



135] THE PUBLICATION OF MILTON 'S WORKS 43 

have appeared. But another attempt was made, by Mr. Stratford, to 
translate Paradise Lost, Book I., into Greek, which was printed, with 
Dobson's Latin Text, in 1770."^ 

Besides the Translation of Samson Agonistcs (1690), this Tragedy 
was translated into Greek, by G. H. Glasse, and published from the 
Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1788. The work called for an extended 
Review, which has been inserted in one of the British Museum copies. 

The Minor Poems have had but few translations into the classical 
languages. Lycidas seems to have been translated into Latin in 1638, 
and again, by W. Hog, in 1694. Lycidas was also translated into Greek 
by the Rev. J. Plumptre, in 1797 ; but the edition was unfavourably 
received.''* Comets was translated by W. Hog in 1698, and published 
in a forty-seven page quarto in London. The L' Allegro was translated 
into Latin by Christopher Smart (1722-1771), and printed in three edi- 
tions of his own poems (1752, 1763, 1791), and in Anderson's British 
Poets (11:185). No translation of II Penseroso into either Latin or 
Greek has been found in the present investigation. 

Section 9 Publication of Milton's Prose Works 

The Prose Writings of Milton, according to the ' ' Chronological List 
of Works," given by John P. Anderson, in Richard Garnett's Life of 
John Milton (1890), were first published under the following dates: 

1641 Of Reformation touching Church-Discipline in England. 

1641 Of Prelatical Episcopacy. 

1641 Animadversions upon .... defence against Smectymnuus. 

1641 Reasons of Church-Government urg'd against Prelaty. 

1641 Apology against a Pamphlet called A Modest Confutation. 

1643 Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 

1644 Of Education. To Master S. Hartlib. 

1644 The Judgment of Martin Bucer, now English!. 

1644 Areopagitica. 

1644 Tetrachordon. 

1645 Colasterion. 

1649 Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. 

1649 Observations upon the Articles of Peace ii:ith Irish Rebels. 

1649 Eikonoklastes. 

1651 Pro populo Anglicano defcnsio contra Salinasiuin. 

1653 Letter touching the Dissolution of the late Parliament. 

1654 Pro populo Anglicano defcnsio secunda. 
165s Scriptuin Doni-Profectoris contra Hispanos. 

1655 Pro se defcnsio contra A. Morum. 

^^Paradisi Amissi &c. Pp. 147. S. Powell, Dublin. 1770. 4to. 

^*See Section 5, Note 14-16, above; and Mo. Rev., June, 1798. 107(26) :227. 



44 THE MILTON TRADITION [136 

1659 Treatise on Civil Pozccr in Eedesiastieal Causes. 

1659 The Likeliest means to remove Hirelings out of the Church. 

1660 Ready and easy tvay to establish a free Connnomvealth. 

1669 Accedence commenc't Grammar. 

1670 History of Britain. 

1672 Artis Logicae plenior Institutio. 

1673 Of true Religion, Heresie, Schism, Toleration, &c. 

1674 Epistolarum familiarium liber. 

1674 Declaration or Letters Patents of the Election of this present King of 

Poland, John the Third. 
1676 Literae Pseudo-Sanatus Anglicani, Cromwellii, &c. 

1681 Character of the Long Parliament and Assembly of Divines in 1641. 

1682 Brief History of Moscovia. 

The English portion of these works was gathered into a 568 page 
folio volume, which was called The Works of John Milton, London, 
1697. The next j'ear, A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, 
and Miscellaneous Wo7-ks of John Milton, both English and Latin; with 
some Papers never before Puhlished, was edited, with a Life of Milton, 
by John Toland. This was a three volume folio edition, published, 
according to the title-page, in Amsterdam, though the work was proba- 
bly done in London. The next complete edition of the prose works 
was that edited, with a Life of Milton, by Thomas Birch, and printed 
in two volumes folio, by A. Millar, London, 1738. This work appeared 
in a second edition, re-edited, with the assistance of Richard Baron, in 
three volumes folio, printed by Millar, in 1753. 

The "Familiar Letters" of Milton were first collected and pub- 
lished by Brabazon Aylmer, with seven of Milton's College Exercises 
(in Latin), at the "Three Pigeons" in Cornhill, in the year of the 
Poet's death (1674). These pieces were published under the conviction 
that at tliat time anything from Milton would sell. Aylmer 's original 
plan was to have published Milton 's Public Letters also as a part of this 
edition. But the Foreign Office of Charles IL prevented the carrying 
out of this plan because of aversion to the publication of these Public 
Letters. (Masson, I, 204.) 

These Public Letters were, however, later collected and published, 
with a Tjife of Milton, by his nephew, Edward Phillips, as Letters of 
State, Written by John Milton, To most of the Sovereign Princes and 
Bepublicks of Europe. From the Tear 1649 Till the Year 1659, in the 
year 1694. Another publication of the Original Letters and Papers of 
State, Found among the Political Collections of Milton, in folio, by Jo. 
Nichols, Jr., appeared in February, 1743.^^ Beyond these collected edi- 

2^Gent. Mag.. Feb., 1743, 13:112. This work has not been seen, and it is not 
known to contain anything written by Milton. 



137] THE PUBLICATION OP MILTON 's WOKKS 45 

tions, already considered, the prose works of Milton appeared only in 
separate publications of the several pieces, until the great seven volume 
editions, %vith Translations and Critical Remarks by C. Symmons, from 
the press of J. Johnson, in 1806. 

Apparently the most popular of Milton's single Letters were the 

Epistola ad Pollio, and the Script um dom. Protectoris contra 

Hispanos (1655). The former of these was printed in folio, by T. 
Cooper, in two editions, in 1738, and another edition of the Latin ap- 
peared in 1774. It was also translated from the Latin, and illustrated 
with Notes, in a folio edition, London, 1740. The Manifesto against Spain 
dated from October 26, 1655, and was translated into German in the 
same year. It was printed in English Translation in three editions, 
1738, 1740, and 1741. 

Milton 's History of Britain, with its fundamental doctrine of virtue 
and liberty,^" was first published in 1670, but that part of it which 
described the "Character of the Long Parliament and Assembly of 
Divines, in 1641," was expunged by the Licenser. This rejected portion, 
later restored to the History, was included in the Harleian Miscellany 
(vol. V.) in 1744. The History itself was reprinted in octavo, London, 
1677, 1678, and 1695, and in folio in 1706, and again in 1719. The 
frequent references to this History indicate that it was rather widely 
read during the Eighteenth Century." 

The Eikonoklastes, after its first publication in 1649, was reprinted 
in 1650, translated into French, by John Dury, under the sanction and 
supervision of Milton, in 1652, ordered suppressed August 13, 1660, 
reprinted in 1690, and edited in 1756 by Richard Baron, whose edition 
was printed again, for the benefit of his family, in 1770. 

The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce was published in 1643, and 
again in 1644, and 1645. Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means 
to Remove Hirlings out of the Church, after the original edition in 
1659, appeared as a supplement to Du Moulin 's treatment of the same 
subject in 1680, and in separate editions in 1717, and 1723. The Dis- 
cource upon the Harmony of the Spheres was printed in Translation, 
by Francis Peck, in his Neiv Memoirs of Milton (1740). 

The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth 
(1660) was included in the Harleian Miscellany (vol. iv) in 1744, and 
was printed separately by Ridgeway in 1791. The anonymous editor of 
this last edition was very enthusiastic over this pamphlet of Milton, 
both for its intrinsic worth, and because "it furnishes a rational and 

3°"The inseparable connection between liberty and virtue was the fundamental 
doctrine of Milton's political pamphlets as well as his History, and he emphasized 
it both in Paradise Lost and Para. Regained." C. H. Firth, Milton as an Historian. 
Pro. Br. Acad., 1907-S, p. 257. 

3'Appendix A. 



46 THE MILTON TRADITION [138 

satisfactory answer to the splendid sophistry of Edmund Burke." To 
all this enthusiasm, a critic of the work replied, "If it be democracy, 
it is not liberty."'''^ 

The Areopagitica appeared in the following editions separately 
printed : 

1644 Original edition. London. 4to. 

1738 Printed by A. Alillar. London. 8vo. 

1772 Another edition. London. Svo. 

1780 With Blackburne's Remarks on Johnson. i6mo. 

1791 James Losh. editor. London. Svo. 

1792 ? Blamire. 8vo. 

1793 Robert Hall, editor. Robinsons. Svo. 

Besides these editions, there was a very popular imitation of the 
treatise, entitled, Sur la liberie de la Presse, imite de I' anglais de Mil- 
ton. Par le Comte de Mirabeau. Londres (Paris? ), 1788. Another 
edition was printed the next year ; and there seems to have been another 
such work in 1789, with a second edition in 1792. 

Archdeacon Blackburne included the Areopagitica and the Tractate 
of Education in his Remarks on Johnson's Life of Milton because he 
felt that these two writings of Milton were not as well known as they 
deserved to be. But wlien the edition of 1792 came out, the Critical 
Revicif said, "This tract is so exceedingly well known that all com- 
mendation of it must be superfluous."^" 

The Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio was published in 1651, with 
succeeding editions in 1651(3), 1652, and 1658. The work was burned 
in France soon after its publication, and in London, by the common 
hangman, August 13, 1660, along with the Eikonoklastcs. It survived 
the persecution, however, and was translated into English, by Joseph 
Washington, an English lawyer, in 1692.'"' After this date, it became 
a permanent part of Milton's Prose Works. No other separate edition 
of the work has been noticed until the time of the French Revolution. 

38Mo. Rev., Jan., 1792, 88(7) :102. 

3!>Cr. Rev., Jan., 1793, "• s., 7:106. 

■"•Joseph Washington was the son of a wealthy merchant, Robert Washington, 
of Leeds. He was a friend to Lord Sommers, and a collateral ancestor of General 
George Washington of the early American Colonies (AUibone). 

This Translation was made, according to the Printer's .Advertisement, "partly 
for (Washington's) own private entertainment, and partly to gratify one or two of 
his friends, without any design of making it public," But the Translation was 
published, soon after Washington's death in i69i(?). It showed the tenor of 
feeling in the Washington Family, and established a probable link between 
Milton's influence and the cause of American Liberty. Sparks, Life of George 
IVashington. Boston, 1855, pp. 500-501. 



139] THE PUBLICATION OP MILTON 'S WORKS 47 

Id 1789, there was printed in Paris the Thcorie de la Royaute d'apres 
la Doctrine de Milton. This was a translation from the Dcfcnsio, by 
J. B. Salaville( ?), with a preliminary dissertation "Sur Milton et ses 
ouvrages," which was attributed to Mirabeau. There was probably a 
close connection between this work and the French Revolution. 

By far the most printed piece of all Milton's Prose was the Tractate 
of Education, which was addressed to Samuel Hartlib in 1644. The 
multiplication of appearances in the case of this Tractate was due to 
the fact that it was added to the Poems on Several Occasions in 1673, 
and tended to remain a part of that collection, which was usually ap- 
pended to Paradise Regained. 

1644 Original edition. Printer and place not given. 4to. 

Ag 1673 

i6g8 Prose U'orL's, edited by Toland. 

23 1713 25 1720 

1723 T. Lefevre, A Coiii/'cHdious Way of Teaching Ancient and Modern 
Languages. ]. Downing, London. 8vo., pp. 99-116. 

28 1725 29 1727 31 1730 32 1731 

1738 Prose Works, edited by T. Birch. I, 135-140. 

Z7 1741 39 1743 42 1752 49 1751 

38 1742 41 1747 43 1747 

1750 T. Le Fevre, A Conifendious Jl'ay Ore. For W. Meadows, London. 

4th edition. Svo. pp. 126-148. 

1751 An Essay on Education. C. Corbett, London. Svo. 

1752 German edition. 

S3 1752 54 1752 55 1753 56 1753 

1753 Prose IVorks, edited by Birch and Baron. 
60 1755 61 1756 66 1760 

1761 Essays on Education, by Milton, Locke, & the Spectator. 
71 1763? 75 1766 85 1772 108 1790 

1780 With Blackburne's Remarks on Johnson. 

1781 German edition, with Paradise Regained &c. 

The above list shows, besides the two German editions, thirty-four 
editions of the Tractate in England. But the 1750 edition, by Le Fevre, 
was the fourth of that work, which seems to imply two other editions 
of the Tractate, making a total of thirty-six times for that treatise to 



48 THE MILTON TRADITION [140 

appear before 1801. The very tenacity with which this prose tag ad- 
hered to the Minor Poems, as arranged by Milton in 1673, was an 
expression of that feeling of semi-sacredness which attached itself to 
everything to which Milton had set his hand. 

The separate edition of 1751, published by Corbett, has the interest 
of being "dedicated to the Earl of Harcourt, governor to the Prince of 
"Wales and Prince Edward."*' The Essays on Education, hy Milton, 
Locke, and the Authors of the Spectator (1761), were edited by R. Wynne, 
who added "Observations on the Ancient and Modern Languages." 
Both of the great Reviews agreed that this volume brought together the 
thought of the most considerable modern writers on the important sub- 
ject of education.*- Archdeacon Blackburne added the Tractate to his 
Remarks, for the reason that it 

"was grown scarce, being omitted in some editions, both of the author's prose and 
poetical works; but highly worthy (it is) to be preserved as prescribing a course 
of discipline, which, though out of fashion in these times, affords many useful 
lessons to those who may have abilities and courage enough to adopt some of those 
improvements, of which the modes of learned education in present practice are 
confessedly susceptible."*^ 

The foregoing lists of the publications may be summarized as fol- 
lows, though figures after 1800 are not very reliable as to completeness. 

<iGent. Mag., July, 1751. 21:335. 

<=Mo. Rev., July, 1761. 25:76. Cr. Rev., June. 1761. 11:500. 

*^Rcmarks on Johnson's Life of Milton. 1780, p. v. 



141] 



THE PUBLICATION OP MILTON S WORKS 



'-b 2> 



To 1680 3334 4* 2 13312162 

1680-90 I 2* 2* 2 I 

1690-00 433 4* 4* 323222223 I 

1700-10 3222221 I 

1710-20 3222331 I I 2 

1720-30 6344551 I 4 

1730-40 5215133?! 111212 

1740-50 10 6 10 9 5 6 2? I I 6 

1750-60 13 12 15 14 13 8* I I I 2 I I I 1 12 

1760-70 16 6 8 7 7 10* 2 I 3 

1770-80 14 12 9 14 9 II 2 2 

1780-90 745867 12 

1790-01 16 8 6 12 9* 14* I 3 

i8oi-iot 15 8 8t 

1810-20 II 4 4 

1820-30 7 5 4 

1830-40 65 4 

1840-43 22 2 

♦Includes Latin and Greek Translations. 
tBr. Mus. Cat., after Anderson. 
JMinor Poems. 

In these facts of the publication of Milton's works a few points of 
interest are prominent. There was an obvious tendency to publish the 
significant parts of the Prose Works in connection with the revolutionary 
movements of the period under consideration. The Poetry, however, 
showed a more even increase in volume, rising high at the middle of 
the Eighteenth Century, and maintaining itself throughout the Romantic 
Movement. 

Throughout the period. Paradise Lost was the poem of central 
interest, far more than the final summary would seem to indicate, al- 
though the summary shows the editions of Paradise Lost, as a rule, 
greatly to exceed in number those of any other part of the Poetry. In 
seventeen title-pages of the Poetical Works, everything is subordinated 
to Paradise Lost, in a manner apparently designed to catch the public 
eye. In twelve title-pages, the Minor Poems are likewise "added to" 



50 THE MILTON TRADITION [142 

Paradise Regained, as poiuted out on page 33 above. Some of these 
title-pages represent multiplied editions of the poems, and of the poet- 
ical works. The subordination of the Minor Poems was further empha- 
sized in the fact that they multiplied the editions not as poems, but as 
adaptations into entertainments. 

The truth, whatever its bearings upon the Milton question, is that 
the English people of this period invested their Milton-money pre-emi- 
nently in Paradise Lost. The amount of money thus expended, if cor- 
rectly known, would present figures that would stagger the imagination. 



CHAPTER III 

Poetical Tributes to Milton 

One begins to enter into the full current of a great national influ- 
ence when one reads the heart of poets, the mind of critics, and the 
problems of historians, who profoundly feel and profoundly study the 
tendencies of their times. The common rabble may feel the throbbing 
impulse of national enthusiasm. They may fall, even blindly, into the 
full current of great national movements. They may exalt a national 
hero, or saint, or poet, to the pinnacle of idolatry. But it requires 
penetrating genius, and careful scholarship, to analyze, and direct, and 
adequately express the real cause that gives rise to such enthusiastic 
national movements. 

Turning now to the poets of this period, who have felt their way 
deep into the heart of Miltonie interests, one may hear, even from Mil- 
ton's own day, a definite, harmonious, and persistent note of poetic 
praise that is full of significance. 

The earliest Tributes belong to the period of Milton 's Minor Poetry, 
and come from the genial land of Italy, where Milton was known and 
admired, if not really loved. Some of them are given here in the Eng- 
lish translation by William Cowper, as furnishing a significant compass 
at once of the entire period under consideration. The other Tributes 
follow, approximately at least, in their chronological order. 

1 What features, form, mien, manners, with a mind 
164s Oh how intelligent, and how refined ! 

Were but thy piety from fault as free. 
Thou wouldst no Angle but an Angel be. 

2 Meles and Mincio both your urns depress! 
1645 Sebetus boast henceforth thy Tasso less ! 

But let the Thames o'erpeer all floods since he, 
For Milton famed, shall, single, match the three. 

3 Greece sound thy Homer's, Rome thy Virgil's name, 
1645 But England's Milton equals both in fame. 

51 



52 THE MILTON TRADITION [144 

4 In Ocean's blazing flood enshrined, 
1645 Whose vassal tide around her swells, 

Albion, from otlier realms disjoined, 

The prowess of the world excels ; 

She teems with heroes that to glory rise. 

With more than human force in our astonished eyes. 

To Virtue, driven from other lands. 

Their bosoms yield a safe retreat; 

Her law alone their deed commands, 

Her smiles they feel divinely sweet; 

Confirm my record, Milton, generous youth ! 

And by true virtue prove thy virtue's praise a truth. 

Babel confused, and with her towers 

Unfinished spreading wide the plain, 

Has served but to evince thy powers. 

With all her tongues confused in vain. 

Since not alone thy England's purest phrase 

But every polished realm thy various speech displays. 

The secret things of heaven and earth, 

By Nature, too reserved, concealed 

From other minds of highest worth, 

To thee are copiously revealed ; 

Thou knowest them clearly, and thy views attain 

The utmost bounds prescribed to mora! truth's domain. 

Give me, that I may praise thy song, 

I who beside the Arno strain 

To match thy merit with my lays. 

Learn, after many an effort vain. 

To admire thee rather than to praise ; 

And that by mute astonishment alone, 

Not by the faltering tongue, thy worth may best be known. ■ 

5 As he, who fought at Barriers with Salmasius, 
167— Engag'd with nothing but his Stile and Phrases ; 



'The Neapolitan, John Baptist Manso, To the Englishman, John Milton. 
2John Salsillo of Rome, An Epigram. To John Milton. ^Selvaggi, To John Milton. 
*Signior Antonio Francini, An Ode. 

All published by Milton, with an apology, in his Poems, 1645. Translated 
by Wm. Cowper, 1791 &c, and published in Wm. Hayley's edition of Milton's 
Poems trans'd by Cowper, 1802, pp. 2-7. See Coivfer's Poetical Works (J. Bruce), 
3 vols., 1896. ni, 139-146. 



145] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

Wav'd to assert the Murtlier of a Prince, 

The Author of false Latin to convince; 

But laid the Merits of the cause aside, 

By those, that understood them, to be try'd 

And counted breaking Priscian's Head a thing 

More capital, than to behead a King, 

For which h' has, been admir'd by all the Learn'd, 

Of Knaves concern'd, and Pedants unconcerned. 

6 O Thou, the wonder of the present age, 
Wr. B4 An age inimers'd in luxury and vice ; 
1674 A race of triflers ; who can relish naught, 

But the gay issue of an idle brain ; 

How could'st thou hope to please this tinsel race ! 

Though blind, yet, with the penetrating eye 

Of intellectual light, thou dost survey 

The labyrinth perplex'd of Heaven's decrees ; 

And with a quill pluck'd from an Angel's wing. 

Dipt in the fount that laves the eternal throne. 

Trace the dark paths of Providence Divine, 

And justify the ways of God to man. 

7 Qui legis Amissam Paradisum, grandia magni 
1674 Carmina Miltoni, quid nisi cincta legis? &c. 

8 When I beheld the Poet blind, yet bold, 
1674 In slender books his vast design unfold, 

Messiah crowned, God's reconciled decree, 
Rebelling angels, the forbidden tree. 
Heaven, hell, earth, chaos, all ; the argument 
Held me awhile misdoubting his intent. 
That he would ruin (for I saw him strong) 
The sacred truths to fable and old song, 
(So Samson groped the temple's post in spite) 
The world o'erwhelming to revenge his sight. 

Yet as I read, soon growing less severe, 
I liked his project, the success did fear ; 



^Saml Butler (1612-1680). Fragment of an intended Sec. Part of the . . . 
Satyr. After Hudibras (Masson, Milton, 6:636). Genuine Remains (R. Thyer). 
1759. I, 220. 

«"F(rancis) C(raddock). 1680." Member with Milton of the Rota Club. 
To Mr. John Milton, On ... . Par. Lost. Fawkes & Woty, The Ptl. Calendar, 
8:69. H. J. Todd, Life of Milton, 1826, 199-200. 

"Saml. Barrow, M.D., In Paradisum .4inissam summi Poetae Joannis Miltoni. 
This poetical tribute was prefixed to the 1674 edition of Par. Lost, and has been 
many times reprinted with it. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [146 

Tlirough that wide field how he his way should find, 
O'er which lame faith leads understanding blind; 
Lest he perplex the things he would explain, 
And what was easy he should render vain. 

Or if a work so infinite he spanned, 

Jealous I was that some less skilful hand 

(Such as disquiet always what is well, 

And by ill imitating would excel) 

Might hence presume the whole creation's day 

To change in scenes, and show it in a play. 

Pardon me, mighty poet, nor despise 

My causeless, yet not impious, surmise. 

But I am now convinced, and none will dare 

Within thy labours to pretend a share. 

Thou hast not missed one thought that could be fit. 

And all that was improper dost omit ; 

So that no room is here for writers left, 

But to detect their ignorance or theft. 

That majesty which through thy work doth reign 
Draws the devout, deterring the profane ; 
And things divine thou treat's! of in such state 
As them preserves, and thee, inviolate. 
At once delight and horror on us seize. 
Thou sing'st with so much gravity and ease, 
And above human flight dost soar aloft, 
With plumes so strong, so equal, and so soft: 
A bird named from that paradise you sing 
So never flags, but always keeps on wing. 
Where could'st thou words of such a conpass find? 
Whence furnish such a vast expanse of mind? 
Just Heaven thee, like Tiresias, to requite, 
Rewards with prophecy thy loss of sight. 

Well mightst thou scorn thy readers to allure 
With tinkling rhyme, of thy own sense secure, 
While the Town-B'ayes writes all the while, and spells. 
And like a packhorse tires without his bells. 
Their fancies like our bushy points appear : 
The poets tag them, we for fashion wear. 
I too, transported by the mode, offend, 
And while I meant to praise thee, must commend; 
Thy verse created like thy theme sublime, 
In number, weight, and measure, needs not rhyme. 



•Andrew Marvell (1620-1678). On Paradise Lost, prefixed to the 1674 edition. 
Poems of A. Marvell (G. A. Aitken), pp. 109-111. 



147] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 55 

9 .... His age and fruit together ripe, 

Wr. c. Of which blind Homer only was the type : 
1674 Tiresias like, he mounted up on high. 

And scorn'd the filth of dull mortality ; 

Convers'd with gods, and grac'd their royal line, 

All ectasie, all rapture, all divine ! 

Daphnis, the great reformer of our isle ! 
Daphnis, the patron of the Roman stile ! 



Who first to sense converted doggrel rhimes, 
The Muses' bells take off, and stopt their chimes ; 

On surer wings, with an immortal flight. 
Taught us how to believe, and how to write ! 

Even tombs of stone in time will wear away; 

Brass pyramids are subject to decay; 

But lo ! the poet's fame shall brighter shine 

In each succeeding age. 

Laughing at the baffled rage 
Of envious enemies and destructive time. 

Milton, whose Muse with such daring Flight, 
Lead out the warring Seraphim to fight. 

Let each man begin without delay ; 

But he must do more than I can say. 

Must above Cowley, nay, and Milton too prevail, 

Succeed where great Torquato, and our greater Spencer fail. 



^Chas. Goodall (1671-1689). A Propitiatory Sacrifice to the Ghost of J. M., 
in a Dialogue betivecn Thyrsis and Corydon. Poems by a late Scholar of Eaton, 
1689, p. IIS- H. J. Todd, Lf. of Milton, 202. 

lojohn Oldham (1653-1683). Bion. A Pastoral. On the Death of the Earl 
of Rochester. Poems & Trans., Lond., 1684, p. 82. 

"John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (1648-1721). An Essay Upon Poetry. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 10:91-94. Found also in J. E. Spingarn's Crit. Essays of the 
17th Cent., 2:286-296. 

The development of these lines, from the forms here given, to that of their 
final revision, is parallel with the solidifying of conservative national opinion in 
its gradual exaltation of Milton. The editon of 1713 reads. 
Must above Milton's lofty flights prevail, 
Succeed where Spenser, and even Torquato fail. 

Dr. Johnson observed this transition. He says, "At the time when this work 
first appeared, Milton's fame was not yet fully established, and therefore Tasso 
and Spenser were set before him .... The last line in succeeding editions was 



56 THE MILTON TRADITION [148 

12 Milton did the wealthy mine disclose, 

1677? And rudely cast what you could well dispose; 
He roughly drew, on an old-fashioned ground, 
A chaos ; for no perfect world was found, 
Till through the heap your mighty genius shined : 
He was the golden ore which you refined. 

13 To whom ev'n the fanatics' altars raise, 

1682 Bow in their own despite, and grin your praise; 

As if a Milton from the dead arose, 
Fil'd off the rust, and the right party chose. 

14 Have you forgot how Raphael's numerous prose 
1684 Led our exalted souls thro' heavenly camps, 

And mark'd the grounds where proud apostate thrones 
Defied Jehovah! (continues 27 lines of blank verse). 

Oh may I live to hail tlie glorious day. 

And sing loud paeans through the crowded way, 

When in triumphant state the British Muse, 

True to herself, shall barbarous aid refuse, 

And ill the Roman majesty appear. 

Which none know better, and none come so near. 

15 Now, in soft notes, like dying swans he'd sing, 
1688 Now tower aloft, like eagles on the wing; 

Speak of adventurous deeds in such a strain, 
As all but Milton would attempt in vain ; 
And only there, where his rapt Muse does tell 
How in the aetherial war the apostate Angels fell. 



shortened, and the order of names continued; but now Milton is at last advanced 
to the highest place, and the passage thus adjusted (ed. 1723) : 
Must above Tasso's lofty flights prevail, 
Succeed where Spenser, and even Milton fail." 
Dr. Johnson, Life of Sheffield. Cf. Spingarn, above, p. 356. 

•- and ^"Nath. Lee (i653?-i692). Both addressed to Dryden : i^on his State 
of Innocence; '^ on Absalom & Achitophel, and written probably in 1677 and 1682 
respectively. 

i^Wentworth Dillon, 4th. Earl of Roscommon (1633-1685). Essay on Trans- 
lated Verse, ^nd Ed. 1685. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 8:264. 

lii Anonymous. Poems to the Memory of Edm. Waller, Esq. H. J. Todd, 
Life of Milton, 1826, p. 201. Geo. Granville (1667-1735), Lord Lansdowne's poem 
To the Immortal Memory of Waller, and also his To Flavia, have allusions to 
Paradise, or Eden. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 11:13, 17. 



149] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 57 

16 Three poets, in three distant ages born, 
1688 Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. 

The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; 
The next in majesty ; in both the last. 
The force of Nature could no farther go ; 
To make a third, she joined the other two. 

17 The Daring Muse unbeaten paths shall tread, 
1691 In Visionary Dreams of Rapture led. 

Descend into the Region of the Dead, 

Elysian Bow'rs, where Waller's well-tuned Lyre 

The Art of Numbers shall instruct the Quire, 

Where Milton on Eternal Roses lies. 

Deep Wrapt in Dreams of his own Paradise: 

Th' adventurous Muse, with this kind vision charm'd, 



Shall question Fate, consult the Sacred Throng, &c. 

18 Or mighty Milton walks thro' paths untrod, 
1692 And sings the ancient Wars of God. 

19 Here reading how fond Adam was betray'd, 
1694 And how by sin Eve's blast'd charms decay'd ; 

Our common loss unjustly you complain; 
So small that part of it, which you sustain. 

You still, fair mother, in your offspring trace 
The stock of beauty destin'd for the race : 
Kind Nature, forming them, the pattern took 
From Heaven's first work, and Eve's original look 

You, happy saint, the serpent's power control : 
Scarce any actual gilt defiles your soul; 
And Hell does o'er that mind vain triumph boast, 
Which gains a Heaven, for earthly Eden lost. 



i^John Dryden (1631-1700). Epigram on Milton, placed under his portrait in 
the folio edition of 1688, 

This Epigram was very popular in the l8th. Century and later. Walter Ham- 
ilton (Parodies, II., 233-236) gives 39 parodies of this Epigram. Others may be 
found in And's Br. Pts., 8:548 (by Wm. Pattison, 1728), and in Chalmers, Eng. 
Pts., 16:51 (by C. Smart, 1753). Cowper wondered that it had never been trans- 
lated into Latin, and undertook the task himself. (Letter To The Rev. Win. Un- 
win, July 11, 1780). 

i^Nahum Tate (1652-1715). A Poem, occasioned by the late Discontent and 
Disturbances in the State, 1691. Poems on Affairs of State, vol. iv. 285-309. p. 309. 

^^The Athenian Mercury, Sept. 17, 1692. Ath. Oracle, i. 270. 

"Matt. Prior (1664-1721). To The Lady Diirslcy. Written in her Paradise 
Lost. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [150 



With virtue strong as yours had Eve been arm'd, 
In vain the fruit had blushed, or serpent charmed ; 
Nor had our bliss by penitence been bought ; 
Nor had frail Adam fall'n, nor Milton wrote. 

20 See here how bright the first-born virgin shone, 
1694 And how the first fond lover was undone. 

Such charming words, our beauteous ]\lother spoke, 
As Milton wrote, and such as yours her look. 
Yours, the best copy of th' original face, 
Whose beauty was to furnish all the race : 
Such chains no other could escape but he ; 
There's no way to be safe, but not to see. 

21 But Milton next, with high and haughty stalk, 
1694 Unfettered in majestic numbers walks ; 

Apr. 3 No vulgar hero can his Muse engage ; 

Nor earth's wide scene confine his hallow'd rage. 
See ! See ! he upwards springs, and towering high 
Spurns the dull province of mortality, 
Shakes Heaven's eternal throne with dire alarms. 
And sets the Almighty thunderer in arms. 
Whate'er his pen describes I more than see. 
Whilst every verse, arrayed in majesty. 
Bold and sublime, my whole attention draws, 
And seems above the critic's nicer laws. 
How are you struck with terrour and delight. 
When angel with arch-angel copes in fight! 
When great Messiah's outspread banner shines. 
How does the charriot rattle in his lines ! 

What sound of brazen-wheels, what thunder, scare. 
And stun the reader with the din of war ! 
With fear my spirits and my blood retire. 
To see the seraph sunk in clouds of fire ; 
But when, with eager steps, from hence I rise. 
And view the first gay scenes of Paradise ; 
What tongue, what words of rapture can express 
A vision so profuse of pleasantness ! 
Oh had the poet ne'er profaned his pen. 
To varnish o'er the guilt of faithless men; 
His other works might have deserved applause ! 
But now the language can't support the cause; 



=''Same. To The Countess of Dorset. Written in her Milton. Probably in 
her special copy of the 1688 edition. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 10:134, Prior's Poems, 
Aldine Ed., I., 38, 39- 

=iJoseph Addison (1672-1719). An .Icct. of the Greatest English Poets. To 
Mr. Henry SachevercU. April 3, 1694. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 9:529-530- 



151] POETICAL TRIi3UTE.S TO MILTON 

While the clean current, though serene and bright, 
Betrays a bottom odious to the sight. 

22 Hear then, great bard, who can alike inspire 
1694? With Waller's softness, or with Milton'r. fire; 

Whilst I, the meanest of the Muses' throng. 
To thy just praises tune th' advent'rous song. 
How am I filled with rapture and delight 
When gods and mortals, mixed, sustain the fight! 
Like Milton, then though in more polished strains. 
The chariots rattle o'er the smoking plains. 
What though archangel 'gainst archangel arms. 
And highest Heaven resounds with dire alarms ! 
Doth not the reader with like dread survey 
The wounded gods repuls'd with foul dismay? 

23 These sacred lines with wonder we peruse 
1698? And praise the flights of a seraphic Muse, 

Till thy seditious prose provokes our rage. 
And soils the beauties of thy brightest page. 
Thus here we see transporting scenes arise. 
Heaven's radiant host, and opening Paradise ; 
Then trembling view the dread abyss beneath. 
Hell's horrid mansions, and the realms of Death. 

Whilst here thy bold majestic numbers rise. 
And range th' embattled legions of the skies, 
With armies fill the azure plains of light. 
And paint the lively terrours of the fight, 
We owe the poet worthy to rehearse 
Heaven's lasting triumphs in immortal verse. 
But when thy impious, mercenary pen 
Insults the best of princes, best of men. 
Our admiration turns to just disdain, 
And we revoke the fond applause again. 

Like the fall'n angels in their state. 
Thou shar'dst their nature, insolence and fate : 
To harps divine, immortal hymns they sung, 
As sweet thy voice, as sweet thy lyre was strung. 
As they did rebels to the Almighty grow, 
So thou profan'st His image here below. 
Apostate Bard ! may not thy guilty ghost, 
Discover to its own eternal cost, 
That as they Heaven, thou Paradise hast lost ! 



=-'Lord Middlesex, Chas. Sackville {163S-1706), To Mr. Pope. On Reading 
Mr. Addison's Acct. of the Eng. Poets. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 12:135. 

"Dr. Thos. Yalden (1670-1736). On The Re-Printing Miltons Prose Works 
with his poems. Written in his Paradise Lost. Anderson, Br. Pts., 7 :762. Chalm- 
ers, Eng. Pts., II 74. 



60 THE MILTON TRADITION [152 

24 If this you can, your care you'll well bestow, 

1700 And some new Milton or a Spenser grow. 

25 Why am I thus, of late, uneasy grown? 

1701 Why thus aside my best-loved Milton thrown? 

26 But when sometimes we would unbend our care 
1701 From studies too abstracted and severe, 

Then Poetry we read. 
The lofty Milton was our usual choice, 
Whose elevated, more than human voice. 
Is tun'd to Angels' ears, is tun'd too high 
For any theme but immortality. 

27 With Waller our first Dawn of Light arose, 
1703 He did the Beauties of the Morn disclose: 

Then Milton came, and Cowley blest our eyes ; 
With joy we saw the distant Glory rise : 
But there remain'd some footsteps of the Night, 
Dark Shadows still were intermixed with Light : 
Those Shades the mighty Dryden chas'd away. 
And show'd the Triumphs of refulgent Day. 

28 Think not that to th' ancient Bards I am alone confin'd, 
1703 They please, but never shall engross my mind; 

In modern Writers I can Beauties find. 
Phoebus has been propitious to this Isle, 
And on our Poets still is pleas'd to smile. 
Milton was warm'd by his enliv'ning Fire, 
Who Denham, Waller, Cowley, did inspire, 
Roscommon too, whom the learn'd World admire. 



29 
1703 



Scarcely in Marvel's keen remarks we find 

Such energy of Wit and Reason join'd. 

Great Milton's Shade with pleasure oft look'd down, 

A Genius to applaud so like his own. 



2*Saml. Wesley (1662-1735). An Epistle To A Friend Concerning Poetry. 
This and the next are from the Eng. Studicn, 40:182. 

-=Saml. Say (1676-1742). An Essay on Milton's I'crsc. Poems on Sez'. Occa- 
sions, 1745. Elegy the Second. 

28"W. S." An Epistle To Mr. »'— , Fellow of Trin. Coll. Cantab. 

A New Misc. of Original Poems, on Sev. Occasions, London, 1701. 29-33. 

2'Lady Mary Chudleigh (1656-1710). To Mr. Dryden, on his Excellent Trans, 
of Virgil (1697). Poems on Sev. Occasions, London, 1703. 25-28. This was 
probably written about 1697. 

-^Same, pp. 45-67. 



153] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

30 O Melody, the same 
1706 That kindled Mantuaii tire, and rais'd Maeonian flame. 

Nor are these sounds to British bards unknown. 
Or sparingly reveal'd to one alone: 
Witness sweet Spenser's lays : 
And witness that immortal song, 
As Spenser sweet, as Milton strong, 
Which humble B'oyne o'er Tiber's flood could raise, 
And mighty William sing with well proportioned praise. 

31 Give me the chariot whose diviner wheels 
1706 Mark their own route, and unconfin'd 

Bound o'er the everlasting hills, 

And lose the clouds below, and leave the stars behind. 

Give me the Muse whose generous force, 

Impatient of the reins. 

Pursues an unattempted course. 

Breaks all the critics iron chains. 

And bears to Paradise the raptur'd mind. 

There Milton dwells. The mortal sung 

Themes not presum'd by mortal tongue; 

New terrours, or new glories shine 

In every page, and flying scenes divine 

Surprise the wondering sense, and draw our souls along. 

Behold his Muse sent t' explore 

The unapparent deep where waves of chaos roar. 

And realms of night unknown before. 

She trac'd a glorious path unknown, 

Through fields of heavenly war, and seraphs overtlirown, 

Where his adventurous genius led : 

Sovereign, she fram'd a model of her own. 

Nor thanked the living nor the dead. 

The noble hater of degenerate rhyme 

Shook off the chains, and built his verse sublime, 

A monument too high for coupled sounds to climb. 

He mourn'd the garden lost below ; 



=8Nahum Tate (1652-1715). In Memory of Joseph Washington, Esq.; late of 
the Middle Temple, An Elegy. Poems on Affairs of State, 1703. I. 223-225. 
Washington died about 1691, near which time this was probably written. Sparks, 
Life of G. Wash., p. 500. 

^^Wm. Congreve (1670-1729). Ode (To the Queen). Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 
10:302-303. 

3ilsaac Watts (1674-1748). The Adventurous Muse. Horae Lyricae, Book II. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 13:58. 



62 THE MILTON TRADITION [154 

(Earth is the scene for tuneful woe) 

Now bhss beats high in all his veins. 

Now the lost Eden he regains, 

Keeps his own air, and triumphs in unrival'd strains. 

Immortal bard ! Thus thy own Raphael sings, 

And knows no rule but native fire : 

All Heaven sits silent, while to his sovereign strings 

He talks unutterable things. 

32 Philips, by Phoebus and his Aldrich taught, 

1707 Sings with that heat wherewith his Churchill fought, 
Unfetter'd in great Milton's strain he writes, 

Like Milton's angels whilst his hero fights ; 
Pursues the Bard, whilst he with honour can, 
Equals the poet, and excels the man. 

23 Oh ! inight I paint him in Miltonian verse, 

1708 With strains like those he sung on Glo'ster's herse ; 
But with the meaner tribe Pm forc'd to chime. 
And, wanting strength to rise, descend to rhyme. 
Rail on, ye triflers, who to Will's repair. 

For new lampoons, fresh cant, or modish air ; 
Rail on at Milton's son, who, wisest bold, 
Rejects new phrases, and resumes the old. 
Beyond his praise or blame thy works prevail. 
Complete where Dryden and thy Milton fail ; 
Great Milton's wing on lower themes subsides, 
And Dryden oft in rhyme his weakness hides. 

34 Pomona see with Milton's grandeur rise, 

1709 The most delicious fruit of Paradise, 

Feb. With apples might the first-born man deceive 

And more persuasive voice than tempting Eve, 
Not to confine you here. 

35 All Hell resounds thy Name with loud applause, 

1710 But above all, the Hot-brained Atheist Crew, 



32Thos. Tickell (1686-1740). Oxford. A Poem. J. Nichols. A Set. Col. of 
Pms. 1780. 5:42. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 11:130-134. 

33Edm. (Neale) Smith (1668-1710). A Poem To The Memory of Mr. John 
Philips. Anderson, Br. Pts., 6:616-618. Lintot's Misc. Poems and Trans. 1712. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 9:204-206. 

2*Wm. King (1663-1712). The Art of Love; in Imitation of Oi'id's De Arte 
Amandi. Part xiii. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 9:279. 

s^Abel Evans (1679-1737). The Apparition. A Poem. L. 1710. 



155] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 63 

That ever Greece, or Rome, or Britain knew, 



Hobbes, Milton, Blount. Vanini with him jom ; 
All equally Admire the Vast Design. 

36 When Fancy makes unvulgar Flight her aim, 

171 1 Wing'd with this vigorous, clear, seraphic Flame. 
She ranges Nature's universal Frame ; 

Bright Seeds of Thought from various Objects takes, 
Whence her fair Scenes and Images she makes : 
Spirits so swift, so fine, so bold, so strong, 
Gave Milton Genius fit for Milton's song. 

^y What though majestic Milton stands alone 

?c Inimitably great ! 

1712 Bow low, ye bards, at his exalted throne, 
And lay your labours at his feet ; 

Capacious soul ! whose boundless thoughts survey 

Heaven, Hell, earth, sea ; 
Lo ! where th' embattled gods appear, 
The mountains from their seats they tear, 
And shake th' empyreal Heavens with impious war. 

38 While Milton's soaring fancy flies, 

1712 And sings of feuds above the skies, 
Pub. Dreadfully fills the heavenly plain. 

With vanquished powers, cherubs stain 
Surprized and trembling from afar, 
We scarce behold th' immortal war : 
Their fauchions formidably bright, 
Their swords composed of beaten light ; 
And beamy arms with dreadful blaze 
From each contending van amaze : 
With dread we view th' apostate foe, 
Plung'd in the deep abyss below. 

39 The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, 

1713 Live in description and look green in song: 
These, were my breast inspir'd with flame, 
Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. 



^^Richard Blackmore (d. 1729). The Nature of Man. Edition, London, 1720. 
p. 17. 

3'Wm. Somerville (1675-1742). An Imitation of Horace. Book iv. Ode ix. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 11:192. And., Br. Pts., 8:294. 

s^Wm. King (1663-1712). Bibliotheca: A Poem Occasioned by the Sight of 
A Modern Library. Nichols, Sel. Col. of Pms., 3:56. 

39Alex. Pope (1688-1744). Windsor Forest. 



[ILTON TRADITION [156 



40 The Muse with transport lov'd him ; yet, to fill 
?c His Various lot, she blended good with ill; 
1714 Deprived him of his eyes, but did impart 

The heavenly gift of song, and all the tuneful art. 

41 Look here, ye pedants, who deserve that name, 
1714 And lewdly ravish the great critick's fame. 

In cloudless beams of light true judgment plays. 
How mild the censure, how refined the praise! 
Beauties ye pass, and blemishes ye cull. 
Profoundly read, and eminently dull. 
Though Linnets sing, yet Owls feel no delight; 
For they the best can judge, who best can write. 

O ! had great Milton but surviv'd to hear 
His numbers try'd by such a tuneful ear ; 
How would he all thy just remarks commend ! 
The more the Critic, own the more the Friend. 
But, did he know once your immortal strain, 
Th' exalted pleasure would increase the pain : 
He would not blush for faults he rarely knew, 
But blush for glories thus excell'd by you. 

42 As through the Psalms, from theme to theme I changed, 
1718 Methinks like Eve in Paradise I rang'd; 

And every grace of song I seem'd to see, 
As the gay pride of every season she; 
She, gently treading all the walks around, 
Admir'd the springing beauties of the ground. 
The lily, glistering with the morning dew, 
The rose in red, the violet in blue, 
The pink in pale, the bells in purple rows. 
The tulips colour'd in a thousand shows : 
Then here and there perhaps she pulled a flower 
To strew with moss, and paint her leafy bower; 
And here and there, like her I went along, 
Chose a bright strain, and bid it deck my song. 



^"John Hughes (1677-1720). To The Memory of Milton. Anderson, Br. 
Pts., 7:314- 

^'Lawrence Eusden (1688-1730). Verses . . . On The Spectator's Critique on 
Milton. Steele. Ptl. Misc., 1714. 196-197. Nichols, Set. Col. of Pins., 1780. 4:157. 

*-Thos. Parnell (1679-1718). The Gift of Poetry. This was written before 
1718, but published in London, June, 1758. G. A. Aitken, Ptl. U'ks. of Parnell, 
pp. Ixviii, 4. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 9:371-401. First lines on "Solomon." 



157] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

43 No more Majestic Virgil's Heights, 
B4 Nor tow'ring Milton's lofty Flights, 
1720 Nor courtly Horace's rebukes, 

Who banters Vice with friendly jokes. 

44 Free from the thraldom of monastic rhymes, 
?c In bright progression bless succeeding times ; 
1720 Milton free poesy from the monkish chain. 

And Addison that Milton shall explain; 
Point out the beauties of each living page; 
Reform the taste of a degen'rate age ; 
Show that true wit disdains all little art. 
And can at once engage, and mend the heart ; 
Knows even popular applause to gain, 
Yet not malicious, wanton, or profane. 

45 First, one who believ'd he excell'd in translation, 

1720 Founds his claim on the doctrine of man's transmigration : 
"Since the soul of great Milton was given to me, 

I hope the convention will quickly agree." 

"Agreed," quoth Apollo 

"Be gone ! sir, you've got your subscriptions in time. 
And given in return neither reason nor rhyme." 

46 In what new region to the just assign'd, 

1721 What new employments please th' unbodied mind, 
A winged Virtue through th' ethereal sky, 

From world to world unwearied does he fly? 

Does he delight to hear bold seraphs tell 
How Michael battled, and the Dragon fell, 
Or, mix'd with milder cherubim to glow 
In hymns of love, not ill essay'd below? 

47 Milton, immortal bard, divinely bright, 

172 — Conducts his favorite to the realms of light, 

Where Raphael's lyre charms the celestial throng. 
Delighted cherubs listening to the song ; 
From bliss to bliss the happy beings rove, 
And taste the sweets of music and of love. 



*3Edw. Littleton, LL.D. ( -1733). To Master Henry Ardu-r (at Eton 
School). Norfolk PtI. Misc.. 1744. 2:73-78. Dodsley, Col., 1782. 6:316. Bell, 
Fug. Poetry, 2:59. 

«Lady Mary W. Montagu (1689-1762). The Court of Dtilliu'ss. Letters & 
Works, 1893. II., 471-4. 

^spat. Delany (1685-1768). A'eu's from Paruassiis. Chalmers. 11:410. 

«Thos. Tickell {1686-1740). On The Death of Addison. C. D. Cleveland, 
Comp. Eng. Lit., Phila., 1869. 423. 

*'Britannicus : To Dr. Watts. On the 5th. Ed. of Horae Lyricae. (4th ed., 
1722.) Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 13:10. 



66 THE MILTON TRADITION [158 

48 Back, scribbler, to thy Caledonian plains, 

172 — In vain thou'rt sanctify'd with Milton's name, 

Not even Homer should protect thy shame. 

49 Now to the Muse's soft retirement fly, 
1724 Or soar with Milton 

Here Spenser, Cowley, and that awful name 
Of mighty Milton, flourished into fame: 
From these amusing groves, his copious mind. 
The blooming shades of Paradise designed. 

50 Here Spenser's thoughts in solemn numbers roll, 
172 — Here lofty Milton seems to lift the soul. 

51 To move the springs of nature as we please, 
1726? To think with spirit, but to write with ease: 

With living words to warm the conscious heart, 
Or please the soul with nicer charms of art. 
For this the Grecian soar'd in epic strains. 
And softer Maro left the Mantuan plains ; 
Melodious Spencer felt the lover's fire. 
And awful Milton strung his Heav'nly lyre. 

52 Rhyme whose bewitching Siren Song 
Has luU'd and sooth'd my Sense too long : 
And from whose silken chains set free, 

I hail the Nymph sweet Liberty. 

'Tis Freedom whispers in mine Ear 
"Thy rhyming Toils at length forbear. 
In Milton's Page without a rhime 
See how the bard had tower'd sublime : 
While Shakespeare, above Art's control. 



<8Wm. Pattison (1706-1727). To Mr. Mitchell. Anderson, Br. Poets, 8:577. 
This was written to Joseph Mitchell (1684-1738), "Sir Robert Walpole's Poet," 
in response to The Sine Cure. A Poetical Petition To The Right Honourable 
Robert Walpole, Eiq., for the Government of Duck Island in St. James's Park. 
The New Foundling Hospital for Wit., 1784. 6:231-235. 

■•'Same. The College Life. To A Friend. Anderson, Br. Pts., 8:555. 

^"Walter Harte (1709-1774). To A Young Lady, with Fenton's Miscellanies. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 10:423, or 16:329. 

siSame. To Mr. Pope. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 12:136, or 16:330. Bell, Fug. 
Poetry, 6:26. Written on the occasion of Pope's Poems being printed for B. 
Lintot (d. 1737),—!. e. 1726 or 1736. For 50 and 51, see Nichols, Sel. Col., 1780. 
7 :302-3o8. 

5=Anonymous. To the Hon. Lieut. Gen'l Cholmondoley. From a small vol- 
ume of Poems, which gives no information as to authors and dates, but evidently 
early in the century. 



159] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

Can freeze the Blood, or harrow up the Soul. 
Bold British Bards, who re-assume 
The free-born Rights of Greece and Rome ; 
While slavish France in jingling Strain 
Drags on, yet hugs the servile Chain." 

53 Is not each, each amiable Muse 
1727 Of classic ages, in thy Milton met? 

A genius universal as his theme ; 

Astonishing as chaos ; as the bloom 

Of blowing Eden fair ; as Heaven sublime. 

54 Now, Sir, as Romans shar'd with Greeks their Fame, 

1729 So should with Romans Britons share the same. 
Homer and Virgil would not scorn to be 

Of Milton's and of Spencer's company. 

55 Though few thy faults, who can perfection boast? 

1730 Spots in the Sun are in his lustre lost : 

Yet ev'n those spots expunge with patient care. 
Nor fondly the minutest error spare. 

Read Philips much, consider Milton more ; 
But from their dross extract the purer ore. 

56 Each shallow pate, that cannot reach your name, 
1730 Can read your life, and will be proud to blame. 

Flagitious manners makes impressions deep 
On those that o'er a page of Milton sleep. 

57 No stranger, sir! though born in foreign climes; 
1730 On Dorset downs, when Milton's page 

With Sin and Death, provok'd thy rage. 

Thy rage provok'd, who soothed with gentle rhymes? 

58 Verse without rhyme I never could endure, 
173J Uncouth in numbers, and in sense obscure. 



=3James Thomson (1700-1748). Summer, lines 1567-1571- 

=*Anonymous. An Epistle to Lord Viscount Cobham. In Memory of His 
Friend, the late Mr. Congreve. Congreve died in January, 1729. This Lord Cob- 
ham is Sir Richard Temple (1669-1740). The Altar of Love, &c. . . . By the 
most eminent Hands. 3rd. ed., London, 1731, p. 23. 

==Wm. Somerville (1675-1742). Epistle to Mr. Thomson, on the first Edition 
of his Seasons. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 11:201. 

s^Edw. Young (1683-1765). Tzvo Epistles To Mr. Pope, Concerning The Au- 
thors of the Age. Chalmers. Eng. Pts., 13:516. 

■"Same. Sea-Piece. Dedication to Voltaire. Same, 13:519- 

■'8Jas, Bramston ( i694-i744')- The Man Of Taste. Campbell, Brit. Pts., 1819, 
5:165. Dodsley, Pms. by Scv. Hands, vol. I. 



68 THE MILTON TRADITION [160 

To him as nature, when he ceas'd to see, 

Milton's an universal blank to me. 

Coniirm'd and settled by the nation's voice. 

Rhyme is the poet's pride, and people's choice. 

Always upheld by national support 

Of market, university, and court. 

Thomson, write blank ; but know that for that reason, 

These lines shall live when thine are out of season. 

Rhyme binds and beautifies the poet's lays. 

As London ladies owe their shape to stays. 

59 Once more, ye Muses, to your sacred hill 
1733 I come with unassur'd and trembling feet. 

Fearful of sharp rebuke, presuming thus 

To touch the strings of Milton's hallowed lyre. 

60 In vain philosophers with warmth contest, 
1735 Life's secret shade, or open walk is best ; 

Each has its separate joys, and each its use: 
This calls the patriot forth, and that the Muse. 

Where high ambition still the power confess'd 
That rul'd with equal sway in every breast. 
Say where the glories of the sacred Nine? 
Where Homer's verse sublime, or Milton, thine? 
Nor thou, sweet Bard ! who turn'dst the tuneful art, 
"From sound to sense, from fancy to the heart," 
Thy lays instructive to the world hadst giv'n. 
Nor greatly justify'd the laws of heav'n. 

61 Here, sacred truths, in lofty numbers told, 
1736? The prospect of a future state unfold; 

The realms of night to mortal view display. 
And the glad regions of eternal day. 

This daring author scorns by vulgar ways 

Of guilty wit, to merit worthless praise. 

Full of her glorious theme, his towering Muse, 

With gen'rous zeal, a nobler fame pursues : 

Religion's Cause her ravish'd heart inspires, 

And with a thousand bright ideas fires ; 

Transports her quick, impatient, piercing eye. 

O'er the strait limits of mortality. 

To boundless orbs, and bids her fearless soar. 



^^Anonymous. Price Verses No. XI. Gent. Mag., Oct., 1733, 3:541. 
8°Wm. Melmouth (1710-1799). Of Active and Retired Life. Fol. London, 2735. 
Bell, Fug. Poetry, 1 :9-i9. 

61T. Tristam. To A Lady, with The Last Day. Chalmers. Eng. Pts., I3;36-. 



161] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 69 

Where only Milton gain'd renown before ; 
Where various scenes alternately excite 
Amazement, pity, terrour, and delight. 

62 Or Bard, sublime, (if Bard may e'er be so,) 

1736 As Milton, Shakespeare; Names that ne'er sliall die! 

63 When nature first her Milton's soul endu'd, 

1736 With conscious pride the wond'rous work she view'd. 

64 Milton's strong pinion now not heaven can bound, 
1/37 Now serpent-like, in prose, he sweeps the ground. 

In quibbles, angels and arch-angels join. 
And God the Father turns a school divine. 

65 See, when the magick Arts of Faction point, 
1739 The blackest Traitor prove the Whitest Saint ! 

Milton, sage Father of the sacred Throng, 
Varnish'd Rebellion, and debas'd his Song, 
In Heaven he seems to palliate Satan's Pride, 
On Earth to triumph when the Martyr died ; 
Yet shall Brittania's Sons proclaim 
His Pen their Glory, tho' his Cause their shame ; 
Princes shall stretch their Bounty to His Heirs, 
And gracious view his Tomb approach to theirs. 

66 Soul of the Muses ! Thou Supreme of Verse ! 

1740 

Feb. Grant me at least thy converse now, and oft 

To ruminate thy beauties infinite, 

To trace thy heavenly notions, to enquire 

When from above they come, and how convey'd : 

Thy Hell, 

Copied by other hand whate'er will lose 
Its terrors, and thy Paradise its sweets, 

«2Wm. Shenstone (1714-1763). The School-Mistress. A Poem written at 
College, 1736. Stanza xxiii. 

«3"G. W." To A Lady, with Paradise Lost. Gent, Mag., Sept., 1736, 6:544. 

s*Alex. Pope (1688-1744). Epistle to Augustus, lines 99-102. 

'^Anonymous. Candour: or. An Occasional Essay on the Abuse of Wit and 
Eloquence. London, Watson. 1739. 

The Editor, in his Preface, says, "Milton, Rochester, Hobbs, are better and more 
impartially characterized by the Author, than they have yet been by any other 
writer : he points out their Beauties and Blemishes with equal Candour and 
Judgment." 

'«Sneyd Davies, D.D. (1709-1769). Rhapsody. To Milton. It has 87 lines. 
Nichols, Sel. Col. of Pins. 17S0. 6:121-124. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [162 



Soiled by rude touch, — enough then to admire, 
Silent admire ; and be content to feel. 

67 Adieu, celestial nymph, adieu ! 

1741 Shakespeare no more, thy sylvan son. 
Nor all the art of Addison, 

Pope's heaven strung lyre, nor Waller's ease. 
Nor Milton's mighty self must please. 

68 Milton, whose genius, like his subject high, 

1742 Gave him beyond material bounds to fly ! 
And manly Shakespeare, whose extensive mind 
Could fathom all the passions of mankind. 

69 'Tis Virtue only can the bard inspire, 

1743 And fill his raptur'd breast with lasting fire: 
Touch'd by th' ethereal ray each kindled line 
Beams strong: still Virtue feeds the flame divine; 
Where e'er she treads she leaves her footsteps bright 
In radiant tracts of never-dying light : 

These shed the lustre o'er each sacred name. 
Give Spencer's clear, and Shakespeare's noble flame ; 
Blaze to the skies in Milton's ardent song. 
And kindle the brisk-sallying fire of Young. 

70 Now mark the strength of Milton's sacred lines, 
1743 Sense rais'd by genius, fancy rul'd by art. 

Where all the glory of the Godhead shines, 
And earliest innocence enchants the heart. 

71 Apollo of old on Brittania did smile, 

1743? 

Then Chaucer and Spenser harmonious were heard, 
Then Shakspere, and Milton, and Waller appear'd. 



«^Sir Wm. Blackstone (1723-1780). The Laiuyer's Farewell To His Muse. 
Dodsley, CoL, vol. iv. Campbell, Brit. Pts., 1819, 6,408-411. Soutliey, Specimens, 
3:188-192. 

o^Saml. Boyse (1708-1749). The Triumph of Nature. Gent. Mag., June-Aug., 
1742, 12:324, 380, 43S. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 14:534-8. 

"^John Brown (1715-1766). On Honor. To the Lord Viscount Lonsdale, 
Anderson, Br. Pts., 10:884-7. Bell, Fug. Ptry., 1:27-37. 

70Jas. Hammond (i7io?-i742). Elegy A7F. To Delia. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 
II :14s. 

''Sir Chas. Hamburg (1708-1759)- To Mrs. Bindon at Bath. Bell, Fug. 
Poetry, 6:134-135. 



163] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

72 With Finger tap'd against my Nose, 
Before I measur'd first five Feet of Prose; 
1744 This was blank verse — so far, at least, 

I've gain'd my point — now for the rest; 

But sure this Rhiming might be spar'd, 

Bless'd Milton! who wou'd never own 

The Fetters under which I groan ; 

But he. Great Bard! with Sense profound. 

Makes ev'ry lofty Page abound. 

And charms with something more than Sound. 

We, a degen'rate scribbling Tribe, 

Are forc'd with Sounds the ear to bribe; 

And Wit's so scarce in these hard Times, 

'Tis cheaper far to deal in Rhimes : 

With jingling Rhimes together ty'd, 

A shameful Dearth of Sense we hide. 

73 Now in Elysium lap'd, and lovely scenes, 
1744 

As blissful Eden fair; the morning work 

Of Heav'n and Milton's theme ! where Innocence 

Smil'd and improv'd the prospect. 

74 Last came a bard of more majestic tread, 
1744 And Thyrsis hight by dryad, fawn, or swain. 

Whene'er he mingled with the sheplierd train ; 
But seldom that ; for higher thoughts he fed ; 
For him full oft the heav'nly Muses led 
To clear Euphrates, and the secret mount, 
To Araby, and Eden, fragrant climes. 
All which the sacred bard would oft recount : 
And thus in strains, unus'd in sylvan shade, 
To sad Musaeus rightful homage paid. 

75 But, Morpheus, on thy dewy wing, 
174s Such fair auspicious visions bring. 

As sooth'd great Milton's injur'd age. 
When in prophetic dreams he saw 
The tribe unborn with pious awe 
Imbibe each virtue from his heav'nly page. 



'^Anonymous. A Poetical Epistle to Daniel IVr — y, Esq. Norfolk Ptl. Mis- 
cellany. 1744. 1:166-170. 

^^Wm. Thompson (1712-1766). Sickness. Written in 1744, published in 1745. 
Book iii. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 15 :46. 

'*Wm. Mason (1724-1797). Musaeus: A Monody To the Memory of Mr. Pope. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts.. 18:323-325. This was written in 1744, and published in 1747. 

■''Jas. Scott C1733-1814). Ode i.v. To Sleep. Odes on Sev. Occasions. Lon- 
don, 1745. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [164 



76 Queen of my song, harmonious Maid, 

1745 Ah why hast thou withdrawn thy aid? 



Say, goddess, can the festal board, 

Or young Olympia's form ador'd ; 

Say, can the pomp of promis'd fame 

Relume thy faint, thy dying flame? 

Or have melodious airs the power 

To give one free poetic hour? 

Or from amid the Elysian train 

The soul of Milton shall I gain 

To win thee back with some celestial strain ! 

mighty mind ! O sacred flame I 
My spirit kindles at his name. 

yj Beyond Creation's utmost bound 

Written Whilst Milton's genius took its flight, 
1745 The Bard in his arm-chair was found. 

Contented — even with loss of sight. 

78 The sprightly lark's shrill matin wakes the morn : 
1745 Grief's sharpest thorn hard pressing on my breast, 

1 strive, with wakeful melody, to cheer 

The sullen gloom, sweet Philomel ! like thee. 

And call the stars to listen ; ev'ry star 

Is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay. 

Yet be not vain ; there are who thine excel. 

And charm through distant ages. Wrapt in shade, 

Pris'ner of darkness ! to the silent hours 

How often I repeat their rage divine. 

To lull my griefs, and steal my heart from woe ! 

I roll their raptures, but not catch their fire. 

Dark, though not blind, like thee. !Maeonides ! 

Or, Milton, thee ! ah, could I reacli your strain ! 

Or his who made Maeonides our own. 

Man, too, he sung; immortal man I sing. 

79 But let the sacred genius of the night 
1745 Such mystic vision send, as Spenser saw, 

or Milton knew. 



'^Mark Akenside (1721-1770). Ode x. To The Muse. Chalmers. Eng. Pts., 
14 : 104. 

^'Richard Graves (1715-1804). The Elbow-Chair. Written in 1745. Enphrosyne: 
or, Amusements on the Road of Life. 2 vols. London, 1776. 2nd ed.. 1780, vol. I, 
68-71. This reference has a foot-note explaining Milton's manner of study. 

^8Edw. Young (1683-1765). Night Thoughts. Night I, 438-453- 

^'Thomas Warton (1728-1790). The Pleasures of Melancholy. Written 1743, 
published 1747. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 18:95-97. 



165] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 73 

When in abstract thought he first conceiv'd 
All Heav'n in tumult, and the seraphim 
Come tow'ring, arm'd in adamant and gold. 

80 What lust of power from the cold North 

1746 Could tempt those Vandal-robbers forth, 
Fair Italy, thy vine-clad vales to waste! 

They weeping Art in fetters bound, 

And gor'd her breast with many a wound, 

And veil'd her charms in clouds of thickest night ; 

Sad Poesy, much-injured maid, 

They drove to some dim convent's shade, 

And quenched in gloomy mist her lamp's resplendent light. 

There long she wept, to darkness doom'd, 

'Till Cosmo's hand her light relum'd, 

That once again in lofty Tasso shone; 

Since has sweet Spenser caught her fire. 

She breathed once more in Milton's lyre. 

And warni'd the soul divine of Shakespeare, Fancy's son. 

81 How nearly had my spirit past, 

1746 

Where Maro and Musaeus sit 
List'ning to Milton's loftier song. 
With sacred silent wonder smit : 
While, monarch of the tuneful throng. 
Homer in rapture throws his trumpet down, 
And to the Briton gives liis amaranthine crown. 

82 Nor an holier place desire 

1747 Than Timoleon's arms acquire. 

And Tully's curule chair, and Milton's golden lyre. 

83 Then turn, and while each western clime 
1747 Presents her tuneful sons to Time. 

So mark thou Milton's name ; 
And add, "Thus differs from the throng 
The spirit which informed thy awful song. 
Which bade thy potent voice protect thy country's fame." 



sojoseph Warton (1722-1800). To A Gentleman on His Travels Through 
Italy. Odes on Various Subjeets, London. 1746. 

^'Same. Odes, 1746. Ode to Health. 

*-Mark Akenside (1721-1770). Ode xvii. On A Sermon Against Glory. i747- 

s^Same. Ode .xviii. To the Right Honorable Francis Earl of Huntingdon. 
1747. For both odes, see Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 14:108-109. The latter alludes to 
Milton's "Defence of the People of England." Compare his own introduction to his 
reply to Morus. 



74 THE MILTON TRADITION [166 

84 Frown not, ye royal shades, that Milton's name 
1748 Among your sacred tombs a place does claim, 

Great Brunswick reigns, whose throne's on freedom raised. 
He, like Augustus, can hear Catoes praised. 

85 As seated pensive in my lonely bow'r, 

1748 

Three venerable forms appear'd, and spread 

An awful pleasing vision round my head. 

Somers, a champion bold in Freedom's cause. 

The just assertor of Brittania's laws. 

From heav'n descended, like celestial dews. 

To glad the subject, and to cheer the muse; 

Who to our Milton's great remains was kind. 

When to the poet's worth the land was blind ; 

To whom alone we owe what Eden yields. 

That vies with Temple and Elysian fields ; 

In spite of evil tongues, and evil times. 

He sav'd the manly and majestic rhymes (= numbers). 

86 The Muse at Cam.— 

1748 "Here will I rest," she cry'd ; "my laurel here. 

Eternal blooms ; here hangs my golden lyre. 
Which erst my Spenser tun'd to shepherd's ear, 
And loftiest Milton smote with genuine epic fire." 

87 Had unambitious mortals minded nought, 
1748 But in loose joy their time to wear away, 

Great Homer's song had never fir'd the breast 
To thirst of glory, and heroic deeds ; 
Sweet Marc's muse, sunk in inglorious rest, 
Had silent slept amid the Mincian reeds; 

Our Milton's Eden had lain wrapt in weeds. 

Our Shakespeare stroll'd and laugh'd with Warwick swains. 



^'Anonymous. To Be Put Under Milton's Tomb in U'cstiuiitstcr Abbey. Gent. 
Mag., Mar., 1748, 18:134. 

85Anonymous. The Progress of Corruption. A Satire. Gent. Mag.. June, 1748. 
18:276. The other two were Cowper, "the learned and the good," and "the late 
Lamented Talbot." 

soRishop Richard Hurd (1720-1808). On the Peace of Ai.v La ChafeUe. 1748. 
G. Pearch, Continuation, 1783, 2:279-282. 

8'Jas. Thomson (1700-1748). The Castle of Indolence. Canto H, stanzas 
51 and .S2. 



167] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 75 

88 Should some strange poet in his piece affect 

1748? Pope's nervous style, with Gibber's jokes bedecked, 

Prink Milton's true sublime with Cowley's wit, 
And garnish Blackmore's Job with Swift's conceit, 
Would you not laugh ! 

89 High on some cliff, to Heaven up-pil'd, 
1749? Of rude access, of prospect wild, 

Where, tangled round the jealous steep, 

Strange shades o'erbrow the valley deep, 

And holy genii guard the rock. 

Its glooms embrown, its springs unlock. 

While on its rich ambitious head. 

An Eden, like his own, lies spread, 

I view that oak, the fancied glades among, 

By which as Milton lay, his evening ear. 

From many a cloud that dropp'd ethereal dew, 

Nigh spher'd in Heaven its native strains could hear ! 

On which that antient trump he reach'd was hung; 

Thither oft his glory greeting, 

From Waller's myrtle shades retreating, 

With many a vow from Hope's aspiring tongue, 

My trembling feet his guiding steps pursue ; 

In vain — Such bliss to one alone, 

Of all the sons of soul was known. 

And Heaven, the Fancy, kindred powers. 

Have now o'erturn'd th' inspiring bowers. 

Or curtain'd close such scene from every future view. 

90 Let Granta boast the patrons of her name. 



749 



Still let her senates titled slaves revere, 
Nor dare to know the patriot from the peer ; 
No longer charm'd Virtue's lofty song, 
Once heard sage Milton's manly tones among. 
Where Cam, meandering thro' the matted reeds. 
With loitering wave his groves of laurel feeds. 



s^Robert Dodsley (1703-1764). The Art of Preaching. In Imitation of 
Horace's Art of Poetry. .Anderson, Br. Poets, 11:98-102. 

snVm. Collins (1721-1759). Ode On The Poetical Character. Branson's Ed. 
Ath. Press Srs.. pp. 41-43. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., I3:i99- 

One feels the first line here, and especially of Hayley (No. 171. below), to be 
an echo of Milton lines {Para. Lost, II, S57ff) : 
Others apart sat on a hill retired. 
In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high 

Of Providence 

""Thos. Warton (1728-1790). The Triumph of I sis. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 
18:89-91- 



76 THE MILTON TRADITION [168 

91 An academic leisure here I find 

1749 With learning's love to discipline my youth ; 

By Virtue's wholesome rule to form my mind, 

To seek and love the wise man's treasure, truth. 

Oft to thy hallow'd sons enthroned hie, 

O peerless poesie ! 

Sounding great thoughts my raptur'd mind delight , 

He first, the glorious child of libertie, 

Maeonian Milton, beaming heavenly bright. 

92 With Nature's Shakespeare rove 
1750? Thro' all the fairy regions, or oft fly 

With Milton, boundless, thro' ethereal worlds. 

93 Ye patriot crowds, who burn for England's fame, 

1750 Ye nymphs, whose bosoms beat at Milton's name, 
Apr. 5 Whose generous zeal, unbought by flattering rhymes, 

Shames the mean pensions of .Augustan times ! 
Immortal patrons of succeeding days. 
Attend this prelude of perpetual praise ; 
Let Wit condemn'd the feeble war to wage 
With close Malevolence, or Public Rage ; 
Let Study, worn with virtue's fruitless lore. 
Behold this theatre, and grieve no more. 
This night, distinguished by your smiles, shall tell 
That never Briton can in vain e.xcell ; 
The slightest arts futurity shall trust. 
And rising ages hasten to be just. 
At length our mighty bard's victorious lays 
Fill the loud voice of universal praise; 
And baflled Spite, with hopeless anguish dumb. 
Yields to Renown the centuries to come; 
With ardent haste each candidate of fame. 
Ambitious, catches at his towering name ; 
He sees, and pitying sees, vain wealth bestow 
Those pageant honours which he scorn'd below. 
While crowds aloft the laureate bust behold, 
. Or trace his form on circulating gold. 
Unknown— unheeded, long his offspring lay. 



»iRev. Robert Potter (1721-1804). A Farewell Hyiiine to the Country. Stanza 
xiii. Bell, Fug. Poetry, 11:105-119. 

»=Robert Shields (d. 1753). The Poiver of Beauty. G. Pearch, Continuation, 
1:194-212. Shields wrote this poem on Johnson's Irene, probably about 1750. 

^^Saml. Johnson (1709-1784). Prologue to Comus. This was spoken by David 
Garrick, April 5, 1750, when Coinus was acted for the benefit of Milton's Grand- 
daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster. For an account of tliis event see Appendix J. 



169] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 77 

And Want hung threatening o'er her slow decay. 
What though she shine with no Miltonian fire, 
No favouring Muse her morning dreams inspire? 
Yet softer claims the melting heart engage, 
Her youth laborious, and her blameless age ; 
Hers the mild merits of domestic life, 
The patient sufferer, and the faithful wife. 
Thus graced with humble Virtue's native charms, 
Her grandsire leaves her in Brittania's arms, 
Secure with peace, with competence to dwell, 
While tutelary nations guard her cell. 
Yours is the charge, ye fair ! ye wise ! ye brave ! 
Tis yours to crown desert — beyond the grave. 

94 Oft Phoebus self left his divine abode, 

1751 And here enshrouded in a shady bow'r, 

Regardless of his state lay'd by the God, 

And own'd sweet Music's more alluring pow'r. 

On either side was placed a peerless wight. 

Whose merit long had fill'd the trump of Fame; 

This, Fancy's darling child, was Shakespeare hight, 

Who pip'd full pleasing on the banks of Tame; 

That, no less fam'd than He, and Milton was his name. 

Now Spenser 'gan, 
Of jousts and tournaments, and champions strong; 
Now Milton sung of disobedient Man, 
And Eden lost ; the bards around them strong. 
Drawn by the wond'rous magic of their princes' song. 

At length, on blest Parnassus seated high. 
Their temple circled with a laurel crown, 
Spenser and Milton met her scowling eye, 
And turn'd her horrid grin into a frown. 



See Phoebus' self two happy bards atween ; 
See how the god their song attentive hears ; 
This Spenser hight, that Milton, well I ween ! 
Who can behold unmov'd like heart-tormenting scene? 

95 Some Village-Hampden that with dauntless Breast 

1751 The little Tyrant of his Fields withstood; 



s*Robert Lloyd (1733-1764). The Progress of Envy. The Ptl. IVks., 2 vols., 
1774, 1:132-146. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 15:94-97. 

^■Thos. Gray (1716-1771). The Elegy. The proper names in these lines 
originally read "Gate," "Tully," and "Caesar." The change is due to changing 
national feelings. 



78 THE MILTON TRADITION [170 

Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest, 
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's Blood. 

96 Fairest flower, all flowers excelling, 
1751? Which in Milton's page we see; 

Flowers of Eve's embower'd dwelling 
Are, my fair one, types of thee. 

97 And let thy pious strain 
I7SI Tell 

How Milton scorn'd the sophist vain. 
Who durst approach his hallow'd strain 
With unwash'd hands and life profane. 

98 Ere yet I sing the round-revolving year, 

1751 And show the toils and pastime of the swain. 
At Alcon's grave I drop a pious tear ; 

Right well he knew to raise his learned strain, 
And, like his Milton, scorn'd the rhyming chain. 
Ah ! cruel fate, to tear him from our eyes ; 
Receive this wreath, albe the tribute's vain. 
From the green sod may flowers immortal rise. 
To mark the sacred spot where the sweet poet lies. 

99 Tho' Milton's brovi's with bays we twine, 
And style him wonderful ! divine ! 

Th' immortal, and the bard ! 
Yet Pope, with ev'ry grace replete, 
In sense, and harmony complete. 
Still claims our just regard. 

100 Milton, bard divine, 

1752 Whose greatness who shall imitate? 

loi But not to one in this benighted age 

1752 Is that diviner inspiration giv'n, 



soNath. Cotton (1705-1788). To A Child of Five Years Old. J'arious Pieces 
in Verse and Prose, 2 vols., 1791, 1 71. Also Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 18:20. 

^'Mark Akenside (1721-1770). Bk. II., Ode x. To Thomas Edwards, Esq. 
On the Late Ed. of Mr. Pope's Works. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 14:115. Cr. Rev.. 
May, 1766, 21 : 389-39 1. 

osMoses ]\Iendes ( -1758). The Seasons, Stanza i. Bell, Fug. Poetry, n: 
63-78. G. Pearch, Continuation. 2:217-230. The allusion here is to Jas. Thomson, 
buried at Alcon. 

"^Anonymous. Imitation of Ode i.v, Bk. iv. of Horace. Nichols, Neiv Found- 
ling Hospital for Wit., 5:46-50. 

looChristopher Smart (1722-1771)- The Hop-Garden, Bk. I. Poems, 1791. 
1:152. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 16:38. 

i»iThos. Gray (1716-1771)- Stanzas To Mr. Rich. Bentley. 



171] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 79 

That burns in Shakespeare's or in Milton's page, 
The pomp and prodigality of heav'n. 

102 Should the weak things this truth discover, 
1/53 How few coquettes would keep a lover; 

And yet, so plain (though blind you know) 
Milton could see it years ago. 

103 Oft too with Spenser let me tread 
1753 The fairy field where Una strays; 

Or loll in Pleasure's flow'ry bed, 

Or burst to heav'n in Milton's high-wrought lays; 

Or on Ariel's Airy wing. 

Let me chase the young-eyed spring. 

104 His frailties are to ev'ry gossip known : 
i;53 Yet Milton's pedantries not shock the town. 

H solid merit others pine unknown; 

Sunk in dead night the giant Milton lay, 
'Till Sommers' hand produc'd him to the day. 

Judge for yourself 

The lords who starved old Ben were learnedly fond 

Of Chaucer 

Their sons, whose ears bold Milton could not seize. 

Would laugh o'er Ben 

Their spawn, the pride of this sublimer age. 
Feel to the toes and horns grave Milton's rage. 
Though lived he now he might appeal with scorn 
To lords, knights, 'squires, and doctors, yet unborn ; 
Or justly mad, to Moloch's burning fane 
Devote the choicest children of his brain. 

105 But, ah, how void yon peasant's mind ! 

1753 In vain to him is Maro's strain, 

And Shakespeare's magic powers in vain, 
In vain is Milton's fire. 

lo-Miss Courtney. To Miss Anne Conolly. Bell, Fugitive Poetry, i :33-34- 

losjohn Ogilvie ("1733-1813). The Day of Judgment, with (six other Odes, 
&c.). Ode on Sleep, stanza 5. Poems on Several Subjects, r/6g, 2 vols., 1:95. 
Mo. Rev., Dec, 1759, 21 -.467-469. 

i°*John Armstrong, M.D. (1709-79). Taste. An Epistle to A Young Critic, 
I75S- Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 16:338-540. 

i»^Wm. J. Mickle (1735-1788). Knowledge. An Ode. Pearch, Continuation, 
1783, 3 :2i-29, p. 23. 



80 THE MILTON TRADITION [172 

io6 The verse adorn again 

1755 Fierce War, and faithful Love, 

And Truth severe, by fairy Fiction drest. 

In buskin'd measures move 

Pale Grief and pleasing Pain, 

With Horror, Tyrant of the throbbing breast. 

A Voice as of the Cherub Choir, 

Gales from blooming Eden bear ; 

And distant warblings lessen on my ear. 

That lost in long futurity expire. 

107 Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their powers, 

1755 Their verse-men, and prose-men; then match them with ours; 

First Shakspear and Milton, like gods in the fight, 
Have put their whole drama and epic to flight. 

And Johnson, well-arm'd like a hero of yore. 
Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more. 

108 This, Milton for his plan will choose : 
1755 Wherein resembling Milton's Muse? 

Milton, like thunder, rolls along 

In all the majesty of song: 

While his low mimics meanly creep, 

Nor quite awake, nor quite asleep ; 

Or, if their thunder chance to roll, 

'Tis thunder of the mustard bowl. 

The stiff expression, phrases strange. 

The epithet's preposterous change. 

Forced numbers, rough and unpolite. 

Such as the Judging ear affright. 

Stop in mid verse, ye mimics vile ! 

Is 't thus ye copy Milton's style? 

His faults religiously you trace. 

But borrow not a single grace. 

How few, (say, whence can it proceed?) 

Who copy Milton, e'er succeed ! 

But all their labours are in vain : 

And wherefore so? The reason's plain. 

Take it for granted, 'tis by those 



lo^Thos. Gray (1716-1771). The Bard. The allusions are to Spenser. Shake- 
speare, Milton, and succeeding poets. 

if^David Garrick (1717-1779). Epigram on Johnson's Dictionary and the 
French Academy. Ptl. Wks., 2 vol.. 1785, 2:506. Anderson, Br. Poets, ii:799- 

losRobert Lloyd. To . . . About To Publish A Volume of Miscellanies, i/55- 
Ptl. Wks., 1774, 1:105-6. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 15:90-91. 



173] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 81 

Milton's the model mostly chose, 

Who can't write verse, and won't write prose. 

109 Genius of Milton, wake! 

1755 In all thy native majesty appear, 
Sublime, concise, and clear. 

As wlien thy strains, heav'n's battlements did shake. 

Or, as when o'er the urn 

Of Lycidas, thou pourdst the plaintive song. 

Or, come like Mirth, with airy train. 

no Rise, hallow'd Milton! rise, and say, 

2. ed. How, at thy gloomy close of Day; 

1756 How, when "deprest of age, beset with wrongs;" 
How. "fall'n on evil days and evil tongues;" 
When darkness, brooding on thy sight, 

E.xiled the sov'reign lamp of light ; 

Say. what could then one chearing hope diffuse? 

111 The proverb still sticks closely by us, 
1756 Ni dictum, quod noii dictum prius. 

The only comfort that I know 
Is, that 't was said an age ago. 
Ere Milton soar'd in thought sublime. 
Ere Pope relin'd the chink of rhyme. 

112 Th' immortal Bard, 
1756 Who sightless sung, in never dying strains. 

Revolted Angels, and fair Eden's loss, 
In vain would strike his Epic lyre, to raise 
Th' inactive spirit of this drowsy isle. 
To that unconquerable height, to which 
Our venerable ancestry aspired. 

113 How sweet with her, in wisdom's calm recess, 
1756? To brighten soft desire with wit refined? 

Kind Nature's laws with sacred Ashly trace. 
And view the fairest features of the mind ! 



if'H. Kiddell. The Genius of Milton. An Invocation. Gent. Mag., Nov.. 
I7SS. 25 :5i8. 

iiowm Mason (1724-1797). To Memory. Odes, 2nd. ed., 1756. "Well imag- 
ined . . . tho' too long." Cr. Rev., Apr., 1756, I :2o8-2i4. 

iiiRobert Lloyd. An Epistle To Mr. Colman, I/56. Ptl. JVks., 1/74, 1 :i65-i70. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 15:102-103. 

"-Joseph Reed (1723-1790). A British Philippic. Mo. Rev., July. 1756, 15: 
85-86. 

"^Thos. Blacklock (1721-1791). The Wish: An Elegy. Poems, i. ed., 1769. 
Chalmers, 18:202. Bell, Eng. Poetry, 8:122. Pearch, 2:194. 



82 THE MILTON' TRADITION [174 

Or borne on Milton's fliglit, as Heaven sublime, 
View its full blaze in open prospect glow ; 
Ble&s the first pair in Eden's happy clime. 
Or drop the human tear for endless woe. 

114 Fancy dreams, 
I7S7 Rapt into high discourse with prophets old. 

And wandering through Elysium, Fancy dreams 
Of sacred fountains, of o'ershadowing groves. 
Whose walks with god-like harmony resound : 
Fountains, which Homer visits : happy groves. 
Where Milton dwells : the intellectual power, 
On the mind's throne, suspends his graver cares, 
And smiles : the passions, to divine repose. 
Persuaded yield: and love and joy alone 
Are waking; love and joy, such as wait 
An angel's meditation. 

115 Thus form'd, our Edwards, Henrys, Churchills, Blakes,. 
1757 Our Lockes, our Newtons, and our Miltons. rose. 

What other Paradise adorn but thine, 
Britannia? 

116 Though foremost in the lists of fame 
1757 We matchless Milton place. 

Yet long will Pope's distinguished name 
The Muse's annals grace. 

117 Fool that I was! My Milton lost! 
1757 Old Homer's youngest son ! 

Luss ! be forever sunk beneath 
Ben's horrors pil'd around. 

Sun's 'livening ray ne'er pierce thy gloom. 
Thy hideous deep be drain'd. 
Fishes to devilish snakes be turn'd : 
Boat-man to Cerebus. 



ii*Mark Akenside. Tlie Pleasures of the Imagination, Bk. I., lines 161-173. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 14 :8o-97. 

"=John Dyer (1700-1758). The Fleece, Bk. \. Chalmers, 13:228. 

""J. Duncombe. Ode to the Rt. Hon. John Earl of Corke. See Cr. Rev., 
Oct., 1767, 24:266-275. 

'''Robert Colvill ( -1788). Upon Losing Miltons Paradise Lost, at Luss, 
situated upon Loch Lomond at the foot of Ben Lownian, and a group of other 
vast Mountains: an Ode. See Mo. Rev., March, 1758, 18:277-278. 



175] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

Mouth of the hellish gulf be thou: 
Its mortal damp thy air. 
All o'er thy plains Volcanos thick 
Their burning sands disgorge. 

Birds never warble chearful note; 
Nor roam the humming bee. 
Herds never graze, nor sheep, nor goats; 
Nor human voice be heard. 

Crags other echo ne'er repeat 
Than dismal Furies yell. 
Mercury laughed, and jeering cried, 
"I Milton from thee filch'd." 

So did Apollo bid: and see! 
For thee a laurel holds. 

Ii8 He looks the guardian genius of the grove, 

1758 Mild as the fabled form that whilom deign'd. 

At Milton's call, in Harefield's haunts to rove. 

Blest spirit, come! tho' pent in mortal mold, 
I'll yet invoke thee by that purer name. 
Oh come, a portion of thy bliss unfold, 
From folly's maze my wayward step restrain. 

119 Who reads Lost Paradise all knowledge gains, 
1739 That book of Milton ev'ry thing contains. 

120 Say, can these untaught airs acceptance find 
1760 Where Milton, wond'rous bard! divinely sung? 

Or yield a taste of pleasure to the mind 

That raptur'd soars with Hervey or with Young' 

121 Ode To The Muses. (Not found, but see the 
1760 note below.) 



ns\Yrn Mason (1724-1797). Elegy IL Written in the Garden of a Friend, 
175S. Chalmers, i8:33S-336. 

ii^Thos. Marriott. Female Conduct: being an Essay on The Art of Pleasing. 
The above lines are a part of his advice to his fair pupils to read the best poets, 
particularly Shakespeare and Milton. The Critic makes some objection to the 
matter of fact in these lines. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1759, 20:135-141. 

i^oTheodosia (Anne Steele). To Lysander. Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devo- 
tional, 1760, re-issued 1780. Mo. Rev., April, 1760, 22:321-324. 

i^iMichael Wodhull (1740-1816). Ode To The Muses. 4*0. Payne & Crop- 
ley. There is said to be "considerable poetic merit in these lines, which reflect 
credit on the taste of the bard, and on the memory of the most amiable of the 
British poets." (Cr. Rev., Sept., 1760, 10:246-8.) The poet associates Milton with 
Homer and Virgil. (Mo. Rev. Appdx., 1760, 23:525-526.) 



THE MILTON TRADITION [176 



122 Lo ! this the land, whence Milton's Muse of fire, 

1761 High sonr'd to steal from Heaven a seraph's lyre; 
And told the golden ties of wedded love 

In sacred Eden's amaranthine grove. 

123 "Here Contemplation holds her still abode. 
i~6 — Here oft my Milton in the midnight gloom, 

Has caught the lofty sentiment relin'd. 

Here oft sought Science in her cloister'd dome, 

Hence fiH'd the mighty volume of his mind. 

Here learnt above the duller sons of earth. 
In all the dignity of thought to rise. 
Here plann'd the work, that told creation's birth, 
Hence gain'd his native palace in the skies. 

But rais'd to join the aerial choir on high. 
That chaunt harmonious at the Almighty's throne, 
Mov'd at the pensive world's complaintive sigh, 
I to direct them sent this second son." 

When leading in her hand a reverend sage, 
Her heavenly accents thus my ears addrest : 
"Receive the instructor of a darken'd age. 
Religion's friend, and piety's high-priest.'' 

She ceas'd, and to my fancy's longing sight. 
No more was given, the glorious form to see, 
She fled along the thick'ning shades of night. 
And left the world to Darkness, Young, and me. 

124 Some hate all rhyme; some seriously deplore 

1762 That Milton wants that one enchantment more. 

125 But oft when Midnight's sadly solemn knell 

1762 Sounds long and distant from the sky-topt tower; 



i-=Thos. Warton (1728-1790). On The Marriage of the King. To Her 
Majesty. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 18:92-93. The Critical Review selects this passage 
for publication (Jan., 1762, 13:28). Here is a specific connection between Paradise 
Lost and occasional poetry, that praises Milton's ability to celebrate an ez-eni. 

i^^Stephen Panting, of Wellington, in Shropshire. Four Elegies: .Morning, 
Noon, Evening, Night. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1762, 26:152-3. 

Penseroso like, he woos Contemplation in the solitary night, and h;is the 
above answer. It is interesting to note how Paradise Lost, the .Xight Thi'U',ihts, 
and Gray's Elegy come here together. 

i2*Wm. Whitehead (171S-1785). A Charge To The Poets. Chalmers. Kng, 
Poets, -17:231-234. 

i25John Ogilvie (1733-1813). Ode on Melancholy. Poems on .Sev. SH-j\\ts, 
1769, 1:74. Cr. Rev., Oct., 1762, 14:293-301. 



177 J POETICAL TRIETTTKS TO MILTON 

Calm let me sit in Prospero's lonely cell, 
Or walk with Milton thro' the dark Obscure. 

126 And thou, sweet queen, 
i;62 That nightly wrapt thy Milton's hallow'd ear 

In the soft ecstacies of Lydian airs ; 
That since attun'd to Handel's high-wound lyre 
The lay by tliee suggested ; couldst not thou 
Soothe with tliy sweet song the grim fury's breast? 

127 O for the Muse of Milton, to record 

1762 The honours of that day, when full conven'd, 

Hibernia's' senate with one voice proclaim'd 
A nation's wide applause ! 

128 Nor lists dull Death to the melodious lyre, 

1762 Nor heeds the raptur'd poet's heavenly song ; 
Quench'd in the dust is Milton's muse of fire. 
And mute is Dryden's once harmonious tongue. 

129 E'en there (in the future Canada) shall 

1763 Some second Newton trace creation's laws 
Through each dependence to the sovereign cause; 
Some Milton plan his bold impassioned theme. 
Stretched on the banks of Orellana's stream; 
Another Shakespeare shall Ohio claim. 

And boast its floods allied to Avon's fame. 

130 For thee, great prince, the bard shall twine the wreath, 
1763 For thee the painter bid the canvass breathe; 

O ! would indulgeant heaven my soul inspire 
With Raphael's warmth, or Milton's sacred fire. 
Then should thy name to latest ages live 
With all the ornaments that verse could give. 



"«John Langhorne (1735-1779). To The Memory of Mr. Handel. Chalmers, 
Eng. Pts., 16:424-5. Allusion to Handel's setting the Companion Poems to music, 
1740. See pages 169-170 below. 

i"Same. The Viceroy: Addressed to the Earl of Halifa.w Chalmers, Eng. 
Pts., 16:435-437. This, and 130 below, connect Milton again with occasional 
poetry. 

i=8Rev. Reginald Heber (1728-1804). An Elegy Written Among the Tombs 
of Westminster Abbey. Very popular. Mo. Rev., May, 1762, 26:356-358. Pearch, 
Continuation, 1783, 2:135-141. Bell. Fug. Poetry, 9:36-42. 

i=9John Law. Christ's College. Cambridge Verses on Peace. 1763. Cr. Rev., 
Sept., 1763, 16:183-191. 

i30Chas. Foot. Same occasion and reference. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [178 



131 With Milton, Epic drew its latest breath. 
1763 

132 Education, as "Mrs. Pedia'' speaks : 

1763 "In system'd song I ne'er was tuned before. 

Though without me no Genius e'er could soar. 

Milton disdained me not; but had he sung, 

My name with Eve's, around the world had rung." 

133 Genius! 

176 — O'er Time it triumphs, winged with native force; 

Nor Past, nor Future, circumscribe its course. 
Mark how it leads a Milton's mental eye. 
Thro' the vast glories of primeval sky ; — 
When Time itself was yet without a name; 
And Present, and Eternal were the same ! 

134 Some Milton-mad (an affectation 
B4. Glean'd up from college education) 

1764 Approve no verse, but that which flows 
In epithetic measur'd prose. 

With trim expressions gaily drest 
Stol'n, misapply'd, and not confest. 
And call it writing in the stile 
Of that great Homer of our isle. 

Whilom, what time, efsoons, and erst, 
(So prose is oftentimes beverst) 
Sprinkled with quaint fantastic phrase. 
Uncouth to ears of modern days, 
Make up the metre which they call 
Blank, classic Blank, their All in All. 

Can only blank admit sublime? 

Go, read and measure Dryden's rhyme. 

Admire the magic of his song, 

See how his numbers roll along, 

With ease and strength and varied pause. 

Nor cramp'd by sound, nor metre's laws. 



131R d B y, Esq. Efiistlc to Lord Mclcomb. Lloyd's (St. James) 

Mae., March, 1763, 2:1-8. 

"2Jas. Elphinston (1721-1809). Education, in Four Books. Mo. Rev., Feb., 
1763, 28:103-108. 

'"Saml. Bishop (1731-1795)- Genius. Ptl. Wks. (ed. Thos. Clare). London, 

17^6. I :22I-22S. 

"4Robert Lloyd (1733-1764). On Rhyme. A Familiar Ef'istlc To A Friend. 
Ptl. Wks., 1774, 2:105-118, pp. 112-114. 



179] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 87 

Is harmony the gift of rhyme? 
Read, if you can, your Milton's chime; 
Where taste, not wantonly severe, 
May tind the measure, not the ear. 

As rhyme, rich rliyme, was Dryden's choice. 
And blank has Milton's nobler voice, 
I deem it as the subjects lead, 
That either Measure will succeed. 
That rhyme will readily admit 
Of fancy, numbers, force and wit ; 
But tho' each couplet has its strength. 
It palls in works of epic length, 

135 Now lukewarm Ode in placid anger flows, 
1764? No frenzy rouses, and no rapture glows; 

Unless . . . where FANCY, with a Milton's art. 
Spreads all her beauties, and o'er-powers the heart. 

136 Heaven claims its bards 



1764 Thus he, who grew immortal as he sung 
The blissful pair in Eden's happy clime ; 
Rehearses now, with rapture on his tongue. 
To gods the wonders of his theme sublime. 

137 Or when, of earthly Story tir'd, 

1765 To higher Knowledge I aspir'd. 
Through young Creation rang'd along, 
Imparadised in Milton's song. 

138 Is this the land that boasts a Milton's fire, 
176s And magic Spenser's wildly-warbling lyre? 

(and Shakespeare, Pope, Gray, Shenstone, 

Young, Akenside) 
And shall a Bufo's most polluted name 
Stain her bright tablet of untainted fame ! 



i35Anonymous. The Laureat. A Poem. Inscribed to the Memory of C. 
Churchill. Cr. Rev., Feb.. 1765, 19:87-90. 

i^eWm. Stevenson, M.D. To the Memory of JVilliam Shenstone, Esq. Cr. 
Rev., Aug., 1765, 20-133. 

i"Geo. Keate (i729-i797)- The Temple-Student: An Epistle To A Friend. 
Ptl. Wks., 17S1, I :203-235, p. 234. 

i3Sjas. Beattie (1735-1803). On the Report of A Monument To Be Erected 
in Westminster Abbey, To the Memory of A Late Author. This author was C. 
Churchill, and this poem, in Beattie's own words, was "composed to gratify pri- 
vate resentment." Brit. Poets: Akenside and Beattie, Riverside ed., 1864, pp. 145- 

IS2. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [180 



139 But now a Garden, like that Eden fair, 

176s Where first weak Eve the wily Foe beguiled. 

Unbounded, floating to the balmy air, 
In all the pride of glowing Beauty smiled. 

On loaded trees the clustering fruitage hung, 
Ambrosia dropping from the mellow bough ; 
The plumy races harmonious anthems sung, 
Or sipped the nectar'd rill that streamed below. 

What Summer views in all her gay domain, 
What Fable's airy pencil e'er bestowed, 
Whate'er Elysium's happy fields contain. 
In rich profusion crowned this blest abode. 

Nor yet wild-scattering spread the exhaustless store, 
But Taste to range the copious growth combined ; 
Wild Fancy stooped to Reason's gentle lore. 
And Nature's boon informing Art refined. 

One tree o'er all sublime in grandeur stood : 
So towers on Lebanon's exalted brow 
A Cedar old, and sees the rising wood 
Around its venerable Parent grow. 

Beneath its shade, where sighed the dying gale. 
Reposed an Inmate of th' ethereal skies : 
With wavy radiance flamed his feathered mail, 
And flashed keen lightning from his dazzling eyes. 

His hand an apple held, delicious sight ! 
Not like the fruit that youthful Paris gave ; 
Smooth was the glossy rind, with vermeil bright, 
Like Venus blushing from the silver wave. 

Of power to cleanse the tainted heart from sin. 
O'er the pure frame to bid corruption cease, 
Tune the calm thoughts to harmony within, 
And soothe the boiling passions into peace. 



'^sjohn Ogilvie (1733-1813). Solitude: or. The Elysium of the Poets. Poems 
on Sev. Subjects, 1769, 2:217-221. For contemporary criticism, see Cr. Rev., May, 
1766, 21:363-369. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1766, 34:116-124. 

The Introduction to this Poem is important as an attempt to justify the rela- 
tive position and worth assigned the several poets. The author is giving "in a 
short compass the character, merit, and discriminating excellencies of the most 
eminent British Poets." .Xs such, Milton appears only as an r/J!c poet, though 
Ogilvie has pilfered much from Milton's smaller poems. 



181] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

A Bard was near ; and glittering by his side 
The Child of magic song, the melting Lyre, 
Whose frame with Music's sweetest breatli supplied. 
Wakes o'er the kindling soul celestial tire. 

Awhile in converse high the Angel Guest 
Held him : — then sweeping o'er the sounding strings, 
Such strains he pour'd, as mid the climes of rest 
Thrill the high Audience when Urania sings. 

As when an Hermit, whose sequestered cave 
Deep in the shade of pathless wilds is thrown. 
Sees the dim Spectre from the gloomy grave 
Aroused, and hears the more than mortal tone : 

Or ardent marks some bright ethereal band, 
That tell the wonders of the world above ; 
How Earth obedient to the great Command 
Arose: How Angels hymn the Source of Love! 

Awe, Hope, and Transport seize him as he hears : 
Such Passions rose when first the Bard began. 
Sung how th' Eternal form'd the rolling spheres, 
Or stamp'd the breathing dust, and call'd it MAN. 

To Heav'n high-soaring burst th' exalted song. 
Of impious deeds I heard, and dire alarms; 
Two mighty hosts I saw, tremendous throng ! 
Tower in refulgent mail, and azure arms. 

Radiant they trod in panoply divine; 
Their Chiefs, dark-frowning in the van. afar 
Like promontories moved : — the dreadful sign 
Was given, and rush'd th' angelic tribes to war. 

'Twas Thou, Omnipotent! whose parent care 
Then held each link of Nature's beauteous chain ; 
Else had yon worlds amid the fields of air 
Been whirl'd, and Night resumed her dark domain. 

How swell'd the soul, as with its shaggy store 
Torn was the fix'd hill from the rocks below; 
As each strong arm th' inverted moimtain bore. 
And hurl'd th' o'erwhelming ruin on the Foe ! 

Not long I gazed, when down the rending skies 
The rushing chariot of Jehovah came: 
I saw the wheels, instinct with living eyes, 
Wrapt in the Lightning's broad and sheeted flame. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [182 



Black thunder roar'd around th' avenging God ; 
While on the Whirlwind's wing before Him driven, 
The rebel crew beheld their dark abode, 
Then roU'd wild-howling o'er the verge of Heaven. 
Thus sung the Bard ; and still to sight display'd. 
Rose with his strain each vivid scene to view ; 
To thought so just was Fancy's powerful aid, 
Her light so piercing, and her shades so true. 

140 Here, Mighty Milton ! in the blaze of noon, 
B4 Amid the broad effulgence, here I fix 

1766 Thy radiant tabernacle. Nought is dark 

In thee, thou bright companion of the Sun ! 
Thus thy own Uriel in its centre stands 
Illustrious, waving glory round him! He, 
Fairest archangel of all spirits in heaven. 
As of the sons of men the greatest thou. 

141 If he, who first the apple sung, "the fruit 
B4 Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 

1766 Brought death into the world, and all our woe," 

Unfading laurels won; a branch awaits, 
Philips, thy youthful brow, who apples sung 
Innocuous, and with freedom bade us quaff 
Their generous nectar, 'neath their parent shade, 
Advent'rous ; nor in less inferior strains. 
Like Milton too, you taught Britannia's song 
To shake the shackles off of tinkling rhyme. 
Emulate, unnervous. 

142 The Captain's a zvorthy good sort of a man, 
Bath For he calls in upon us whenever he can, 
1766 And often a dinner or supper he takes here. 

And Jenny and he talk of INIilton and Shakespeare. 

143 What honours, ye Britons! (one emblem implies) 
1766? What glory to George shall belong! 

What Miltons, (the other) what Addisons rise. 
To make him immortal in song ! 



""Wm. Thompson (1712-1766). In Milton's Alcove. 

'^iSame. In the Midst of an Afple-Tree, Over Mr. Philips s Cyder. See the 
Garden Inscriptions. Anderson, Brit. Poets, 10:993. 996. 

There was published, in 1766, a poem entitled The Authors, by D. Hayes, Esq., 
which has lines on Milton introducing Akenside ; but the poem has not been acces- 
sible for the present work. See Cr. Rev., June, 1766, 21 :476-478. 

"^Christopher Anstey (1724-1805). The Neiv Bath Guide: or, Memoirs of 
the B-n-r-d Family. In a series of Poetical Epistles. Bath, jSog. Letter ii. 

i-i^John Cunningham (1729-1773"). Stanzas on the Forivardncss of Spring. 
Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 14:437- 



183] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

144 ^lan formed for eternity, 

July Abhors annihilation, and the thought 

1766 Of dark oblivion. Hence, with ardent wish 
And vigorous effort, each would fondly raise 
Some lasting monument, to save his name 

Safe from the waste of years. Hence Caesar fought 
Hence Raphael painted ; and hence Milton sung. 

14s To Spencer much, to Milton much is due; 

1767 But in great Dryden we preserve the Two. 
What Muse but his can nature's beauties hit, 
Or catch that airy fugitive, call'd icit? 

146 O Pope ! too great to copy, or to praise ; 

1767 

Milton alone could Eden lost re-gain; 
And only thou portray Messiah's reign. 

147 I cannot think but more or less 

1768 True merit always gains success ; 

The second name for epic song. 
First classic of the English tongue. 
Great Milton, when first appear'd, 
Was ill receiv'd and coldly heard. 
In vain did faction damn those lays 
Which all posterity shall praise. 

148 The sun of science in its morning warm'd — 
1768 How glorious, when it blazed in Milton's light. 

And Shakespeare's flame, to full meridian day. 

149 Ah! What the transient sounds, devoid of thought, 
ci76g To Shakespeare's flame of ever-burning ire. 

Or Milton's flood of mind, till time expire 
Foredoom'd to flow ; as Heaven's dread energy. 
Unconscious of the bounds of place. 



i"Michael Bruce (1746-1767). The Last Day. Anderson. Brit. Poets, 11: 
1124-1128. 

"^Walter Harte ('1709-1774). The Vision of Death. In The Amaranth, or 
Religious Poeir.s. Cr. Rev., Aug., 1767, 24:121-124. 

i^^Same. Macarius; or. The Confessor. Chalmers. Eng. Poets, 16:390-392. 

"'Wm. Wilkie (1721-1772). Phebus and the Shepherd. Chalmers, Eng. 
Poets, 16:189. 

"SEdw. Lovibond (1724-1775). Verses Written after Passing Through Fin- 
don, Sussex, iy68. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 16:299. 

i«Wm. J. Mickle (1735-17S8). On The Neglect of Poetry. Anderson, Brit. 
Poets, 11:670. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., i7:553-4- 



92 THE MILTON TRADITION [184 

150 One lattice glimmers in the dismal cell, 
1769 Which cause, like the flames in Milton's hell, 

"No light, but rather darkness visible." 

151 The poet, who would plan the perfect page, 
1769 Above the themes that touch a trivial age, 

Say! to wliat purpose drinks he of the streams. 

That fills the fancy with inspiring dreams, 

If in that hour, when richest raptures roll. 

The pinch of poverty benumb his soul? 

For a day's meal had Milton felt a fear, 

Urania's voice had vainly reached his ear ; 

Thro' night's dark desert the fiend ne'er had stray 'd. 

Nor earth-rent mountains cast their horrid shade. 

152 From yonder realm of empyrean day 
1769 Bursts on my ear th' indignant lay; 

There sit the sainted sage, the bard divine. 

The few, whom genius gave to shine 

Through every unborn age, and undiscovered clime. 

'Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell, 
And, as the choral warblings round him swell, 
Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime, 
And nods his hoary head, and listens to the rhyme. 

153 Ye Muses quit your sacred streams. 
And aid me like the bard of yore, 
Hight, Milton, for like his, my tlieme 
In verse was never sung before. 

154 No more the Grecian Muse unrivall'd reigns. 
C1771 To Britain let the nations homage pay; 

She felt a Homer's fire in Milton's strains, 
A Pindar's rapture from the lyre of Gray. 
T55 There silent mus'd on Shakespeare's tragic page. 



i^i'Francis Seighton. The Muse's Blossoms. Highly praised in the Mo. Rev., 
April, 1769, 40:302. 

It describes the lad's prison at school, wliere lie was shut up for eating tarts 
when he should have been reading Homer. 

»"Thos. Neville. Imitations of Juvenal and Persius. Mo. Rev., Jan., 1770, 
42:46. 

I'^-Thos. Gray. The Installation Ode. 

issAnonymous. Ode To Lord Edgeeonibc's Pig. The New Foundling Hos- 
pital for Wit. 1784. 6:240. 

i5<Wm. Mason. O)! Mr. Gray, in IVesfminsIrr .^hbey. Clialmers. Eng. Poets, 
18 :338. 

i"Anonvmous. A Farewell To Suinnier. Bell, Fug. Poetry. 8:74-78. 



185] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 93 

Of Milton learn'cl to scale the azure road. 

Chanted Maeonides' poetic rage, 

And read, O Pope! thy equal thoughts of God. 

156 No, not in rin-me. I Iiate that iron chain, 

1773 Forged by the hand of some rude Goth, wiiich cramps 

The fairest feather in the Muse's wing. 

And pins her to the ground. Shall the quick thought 

That darts from world to world, and traverses 

The realms of time, and space, all fancy-free, 

Check in his rapid flight, obey the call 

Of some barbarian, who by sound enslaved, 

And deaf to manly melody, proclaims, 

"No farther shalt thou go?" Pent in his cage 

The imprisoned eagle sits, and beats his bars ; 

His eye is raised to Heaven. Tho' many a moon 

Has seen him pine in sad captivity. 

Still to the thunderer's throne he longs to bear 

The bolt of vengeance; still he thirsts to dip 

His daring pinions in the fount of light. 

Go, mark the lettered sons of Gallia's clime. 

Where critic rules, custom's tyrant law, 

Have fettered the free verse. On the palled ear 

The drowsy numbers, regularly dull. 

Close in slow tedious unison. Not so 

The bard of Eden ; to the Grecian Lyre 

He tuned his verse ; he loved the genuine muse, 

That from the top of Athos circled all 

The fertile islands of the Aegean deep. 

Or roamed o'er fair Ionia's winding shore. 
Poet of other times, to thee I bow 

With lowliest reverence. Oft thou tak'st my soul, 

And waftest it by thy potent harmony 

To that empyreal mansion, where thine ear 

Caught the soft warblings of a Seraph's harp. 

What time the nightly visitant unlocked 

The gates of Heaven, and to thy mental sight 

Displayed celestial scenes. She from thy lyre 

With indignation tore the tinkling bells, 

And tuned it to sublimest argument. 

Sooner the bird that ushering in the spring 

Strikes the same notes with one unvarying pause. 

Shall vye with Philomel, when she pursues 

Her evening song through every winding maze 



i5«Wm. Roberts (1745-1791). A Poetical Epistle To Christofher Anstcy. Esq. 
On The English Poets. Chiefly Those Who Have JVritten In Blank Verse, .fto. 
Payne. T"S. Favorably received. Cr. Rev.. Jan., 1773, 35:52-54- Mo. Rev., Feb., 
1773, 48:145-148. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [186 



Of melody, than rhyme shall soothe the soul 
With music sweet as thine. 

157 "But how," they ask, "can we this gem obtain?" 
Wr. Be that thy task, O Lucas, to explain. 

1770 As Milton, eyeless bard, has sweetly sung 

The fatal source whence all our woes first sprung, 
So he has taught, though not in measured phrase, 
A lesson which deserves full greater praise ; 
How man (as once in Eden) may be blest. 
And paradise be found in every breast. 
O ! may you find it there, may you obtain 
The bliss which too much knowledge rendered vair 
By tasting boldly the fair fruit again. 

Lucas like Milton, wondrous bard, was blind. 

Like Milton too, illumined was his mind ; 

Then ask thy Guide, for he who seeks shall find. 

158 Again I pace thee, magic town; 
Again recall thy past renown. 

When Milton's wand Arcadia ruled : 
Or Comus and the midnight crew 
Their playful spirits hither drew ; 
Where in the mortal habit came 
The Genius of the Vestal flame. 

The lay of Milton I can hear. 

159 I woo nor thee, thou goddess, heav'nly bright! 
CI776 Fair Muse ... (of Homer and Virgil) 

Xor thee, who gav'st thine aid of later years 
To him, great bard, Britannia's boasted pride, 
Alajestic Milton; who, in verse no less 
Sublime, a theme unsung before display'd. 

160 America, with just disdain, 

April Will burst degenerate Britain's chain, 

1776 And gloriously aspire; 



'"Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770). Enquiry After Happiness. Written in 
May (?), 1770, and printed in the Gospel Magazine in November of that year. 
Ptl. Wks. of T. Chatterton (Skeat), 1:184. 

"SGeo. (Justice) Hardinge (1743-1816). On. Ludlow. Nichols. Lit. lllus., 

isoChas. Crawford. The First Canto of The Revolution: an Epic Poem. Cr. 
Rev., June, 1776, 41 :475-478. 

160 John Debrett ( -1822). Lord Chatham's Prophecy. An Ode. New 
Foundling Hospital for Wit. 1784. 1 :75-9i. Stanza ix. 



187] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 95 

I see new Lockes and Camdens rise, 
Whilst other Newtons read the skies, 
And Miltons wake the lyre. 

l6l The Masque of Comus, which the eyeless Bard 

1776 (Britannia's Homer) in immortal verse 

April Gave to th' admiring world, where moral grave, 

Pleasure's allurements, and the bevel route 

Of Bacchanalian Riot, Dance and Song, 



In mingled measure charmed the eye and ear. 

162 That mighty Visitant 

1776 ... . . when he left immortal choirs. 

To mix with Milton's kindred soul, 

The labours of their golden lyres 

Would steal, and "whisper whence he stole." 

The Muse's gentle offering still 
Your ear shall win, your love shall woo. 
And these spring-flowers of Milton fill 
The favour'd vales where first they grew. 

163 When Milton sings of Angels bold in fight. 
Pub. Or blooming Cherubs half-dissolv'd in light ; 
1776 Or leads his Eve to Adam's longing arms, 

In all the lustre of primeval charms : 

Fir'd with the song, thro' Eden's blissful groves, 

With the first pair th' enraptur'd fancy roves. 

'Midst crystal founts or amaranthine bow'rs, 

Ambrosial fruits and ever-blooming flowers. 

We trace each step by various passions tost. 

And quit with tears the Paradise they lost. 

Like that blest pair, by Gainsb'rough's pencil drawn, 

Here each fond couple treads the flow'ry lawn ; 

But when the landskip's various charms we trace. 
Where Nature's self appears with heighten'd grace : 

Each landskip seems a Paradise regained. 



I'lRobert Jephson (1736-1803). Extempore Ludicrous Miltonic J'erses. To 
the late Mrs. Gardiner. Dehrttt, Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, 3:266-267. 

'I'^Dr. John Langhorne (l73S-i779)- A Poetical Efistle To .4 Gentleman of 
Italy. Appended to Milton's Italian Poems. Mo. Rev., Nov., 1776. SS :383-3Ss. 

'"'Rich. Graves (1715-1804). On Mr. Gainsborough; Equally E.xceUcnt in 
Landskip and Portraits. Euphrosyne. 1:131-132. 



THE MILTON TRADITION [188 



164 But whilst he gives their well-earned praise 

1776 To classic wits of ancient days, 
He none superior finds to those, 
Who in our seats of learning rove. 
Again in Milton Homer lives; 
The Stag}'rite in Locke revives. 

165 But Popularity, alas ! has wings, 

1777 And flits as soon from poets as from kings. 
My pompous Postscript found itself disdained 
As much as Milton's Paradise Regained. 

166 The daughters and the sons of Phoebus, 

1778 Who twine the riddle and the rebus. 

Acrostics weave 

Up to the aspiring bards who soar 

Aloft in proud Miltonic ! 

167 Thou Swan of Avon ! how I love thy strains ! 

1779 Cherub of Eden! clap thy gorgeous wings: 
Tell the sweet singers how the lark maintains 
Gay from the grassy bed her airy wings : 
Dash'd by the sighings of an eastern wind, 

The pretty warbler wheels and pants for fear ; 
And seeing heaven before, and earth behind, 
Drops to her nest, and whispers, — God zvas there. 

168 O'er those rude scenes Confusion's shadows dwell, 

1780 Beyond the power of genius to dispell; 

Mist! which ev'n Milton's splendid mind enshroud; 
Lost in the darkness of the Saxon cloud ! 

169 Ages lapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, 
Wr. .And ages ere the Mantuan Swan was heard, 

1781 To carry nature lengths unknown before. 
Pub. To give a Milton birth, asks ages more. 



16-iSame. Euplirosyne. 2 :57-64, p. 60. 

i8''Wm. Mason (1724-1797). An Epistle to Dr. Shchbeare. Chalmers, Eng. 
Pts., 18:416. Neiv Foundling Hospital, 1784, 2:33. 

""Christopher .Anstey (1724-1805). Envy; A Poem. Addressed to Mrs. Mil- 
ler, at Bath-Eastoii-Villa. 4to. Dodsley. Mo. Rev., July, 1778, 59:72. 

lerjohn Wheeldon {-1772). The Jewish Bard. In 4 Odes, to the Holy Moun- 
tains. 4to. Goldsmith, 1779. Mo. Rev., August, 1779, 61 :93-9S- 

i88Wm. Hayley (1745-1820). An Essay on History (3 Epistles). Epistle iii, 
lines 313-316. Argument: "Danger of dwelling on the distant and minute parts 
of a subject really interesting. Failure of Milton in this particular." Poems and 
Plays. London, 1785, 2:82. This was addressed to Gibbon. 

'laawm. Cowper (1731-1800). Table Talk. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 18:605-611, 
p. 609. 



189] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 97 

1782 Thus Genius rose and set at order'd times, 

And shot a day-spring into distant climes, 
Ennobling ev'ry region that he chose ; 
He sunk in Greece, in Italy he rose ; 
And, tedious years of Gothic darkness pass'd, 
Emerg'd all splendour in our isle at last. 

170 (Suggestion for painting) 

1782 Bid Milton's Satan from the burning steep 

Call his wide legions, slumb'ring on the deep. 

171 Apart, and on a sacred hill retired, 
1782 Beyond all mortal inspiration fir'd. 

The mighty Milton Sits — an host around 

Of list'ning angels guard the holy ground; 

Amaz'd they see a human form aspire 

To grasp with daring hand a seraph's lyre. 

Inly irradiate with celestial beams. 

Attempt those high, those soul-subduing themes, 

And celebrate, with sanctity divine, 

The starry field from warring angels won. 

And God triumphant in his Victor Son. 

Nor less the wonder, and the sweet delight, 

His milder scenes and softer notes excite. 

When at his bidding Eden's blooming grove 

Breathes the rich sweets of innocence and love. 

With such pure joy as our fore-fathers knew 

When Raphael, heavenly guest, first met his view, 

And our glad sire, within his bower. 

Drank the pure converse of th' aetherial power. 

Round the blest bard his raptur'd audience throng, 

And feel their souls imparadis'd in song. 

If the Enthusiast higher hope pursues, 

O turn where Milton flames with Epic rage. 

From earth she (the Muse) bears him to bright Fancy's goal, 
And distant fame illuminates his soul. 



I'ojohn Scott (1730-1783). An Essay On Painting. To A Young Artist. 
Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 17:491-496. Scott's Collected Works, 1782. 

I'lWm. Hayley. An Essay On Epic Poetry. To Mr. Mason. Hayley's Poems 
and Plays, London, 1785. Vol. Ill, pp. 7i, 96. The Critical Revinv (Oct., 1782, 
54:241-52) quotes the first of these as a choice selection. Cf. Tribute No. Sgn. 



98 THE MILTON TRADITION [190 

172 O ! was I blest with each heart-melting trope, 
1783 The wing of Milton, and the flow of Pope, 

Was all the melody of Warton's mine. 
And all the music of the tuneful Nine; 
To thee, Columba, ever, ever true. 
My softest song should flow, to soften you. 

173 Hither the Muse would sometimes bend her way, 
1783 Willing to loiter, but afraid to stay; 

Until bright spirits of etherial fire 
Raised the charm'd note, and waked the British lyre, 
Shakespeare and Milton ! Listening to their lays. 
How soon unfelt were Albion's clouded days. 

174 I see a Homer and a Milton rise 
1783 In all the pomp and majesty of song. 

Which gives immortal vigour to the deeds 
Atchieved by heroes in the field of fame. 

17s Tho' his contention with the scribbling crowd 

C1784 Was like the Sun contending with a cloud, 

Which the next wind would hastily disperse. 

And leave the day as radiant as his verse. 

176 Hence, free from warlike toils and stern debate, 

178s These friendly rivals of a parent state. 

By growing virtues their descent shall prove. 

Each liberal art aspiring to improve. 

Till other Lockes and Miltons shall be born. 

Ages remote to polish and adorn. 



"^Miles Parkin. Columbia, A Ptl. Epistle, heroic and Satirical, to the Rt. 
Hon. Chas. Earl Cornwallis. 4to. Debrett. To urge reconciliation between Eng. 
and Amer., Cr. Rev., Oct., 1783, 56:311-2. 

>"Fred. Howard (1748-1825). 5th Earl of Carlisle. The Father's Revenge. 
A Tragedy. London, 1800. 

"^Anonymous. The Rising Glory of America. New Fndlg. Hospital for 
Wit. 4.247-257. 

i^^Anonymous. A Dialogue Between Dr. Johnson and Dr. Goldsmith, in the 
Shades, relative to the former's Strictures on English Poets, particularly Pope, 
Milton, and Gray. 

"The poor Doctor (Johnson) pleads guilty to the charge of partiality," but 
attempts to atone for the evil by a character of Milton, quoted by the Critical 
Review, as "inferior to nothing in this performance." April, 1785, 59:304-305. 

i^oRev. J. Gilpin. An Essay upon the Peace of 1783, dedicated to the Arch- 
bishop of Paris. Translated from the French of the Rev. J. Fletcher, late Vicar 
of Madeley, Salop. 4to. Hindmarsh, 1785. These are lines on the American 
Colonies. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1786, 74:i47- 



191] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 99 

177 Philosophy, baptized 
1785 In the pure fountain of eternal love, 

Has eyes indeed ; and, viewing all she sees 
As meant to indicate a God to man. 
Gives Him His praise, and forfeits not her own. 
Learning has borne such fruits in other days 
On all her branches. Piety has found 
Friends in the friends of science, and true prayer 
Has flowed from lips wet with Castalian dews. 
Such was thy wisdom, Newton, childlike sage ! 
Sagacious reader of the works of God, 
And in His Word sagacious. Such too thine, 
Milton, whose genius had angelic wings. 
And fed on manna. And such thine, in whom 
Our British Themis gloried with just cause, 
Immortal Hale! for deep discernment praised. 
And sound integrity not more, than famed 
For sanctity of manners undefiled. 

Then Milton had indeed a poet's charms ; 

New to my taste his Paradise surpass'd 

The struggling efforts of my boyish tongue 

To speak its excellence, I danced for joy. 

I marvelled much that at so ripe an age 

As twice seven years, his beauties had then first 

Engag'd my wonder ; and admiring still, 

And still admiring, with regret suppos'd 

The joy half lost, because not sooner found. 

178 And thou, immortal Bard ! By Seraphs crowned ! 
178s Whether with lively Mirth and Pleasure gay. 

Thou listen to the jocund rebec's sound, 
Or frame the melting melancholy lay ; 

Still dost thou charm no less than when thy song 

Majestic bids our fearful eyes behold 

Angelic combat, and the rebel throng 

Down from the verge of Heaven headlong rolled. 

Since then the noblest of the tuneful art 
Have deigned to lay aside the bolder lyre, 
And touch with sweet simplicity the heart; 
With me, my Friend, the artless strain admire. 



"•Wm. Cowper (1731-1800). The Task. Bk. Ill, 242-59; IV, 709-17- 

"sSaml. Knight (1759-1827). Elegies and Sonnets. 4to. Cadell. 17S5. 2nd 

ed. 1787. Taken from the Mo. Rev., Aug., 1785, 73:121-123. For the author, see 

Mo. Rev., Aug., 1787, 77:160. 



100 THE MILTON TRADITION [192 

Convinced, Ambition's fond pursuit give o'er; 
Content be thou with milder rays to shine : 
Few can attain the wreath that Milton wore, 
But Hammond's myrtle chaplet may be thine. 

179 In happier times, in Charles' golden reign, 

? c How oft did Dryden, at thy shrine complain? 

1786 Did patriot Milton ever feel thy smile? 
(At once the shame and glory of our isle!) 

180 Immortal Freedom ! 

1787 

And far as memory traces back my years. 
My soul, tho' touch'd with social sympathies, 
Revolted at oppression. Nymph divine ! 

If from the sound of Milton's golden lyre ; 

Of Thomson's Doric pipe ...... 

Thou now withhold thine audience : — hither turn 
Indulgent ; for tho' sweeter song hath charm'd, 
Yet praise sincerer never met thine ear. 

181 O, in your gardens love wild Nature's plan ; 
1790 For God himself the model gave to man ! 

When Milton's hand the blessed asylum wove, 
Where our first parents wandered rich in love ; 
Did he with frigid rules then each path restrain? 
Did he in fetters vile the waves enchain? 
Did he a load of foreign splendours fling, 
O'er earth's soft infancy, and earliest spring? 
No ! artless, unconfined, there Nature bland 
With loveliest fancies decked the laughing land. 
Of hills and vales the bright confusion gay. 
And streams, that as they lift, meand'ring play. 
The doubtful paths that ever wind along. 
Still with new views, their varying joys prolong. 
There ever stray their eyes with fresh delight. 
Unknowing where to fix the ravished sight. 
O'er the green velvet of the enamelled meads, 
A thousand trees wave high their tufted heads, 
And charm each sense of smell, of taste, or view, 

I'SAnonymous. To Fortune. J. Debrett, An Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, 
1786, 2:228-233. 

isovVm. Roscoe (17S3-1831). The Wrongs of Africa, p. 34- 
181 Abbe de Lille. The Garden: or. The Art of Laying Out Grounds. Trans- 
lated from the French of the Abbe de Lille. Cadell. This passage has popular 
interest, as appears in the Critical Review, Oct., 1790, 70:409-414- Cf. Appendix I, 



193] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 101 

With blossoms fair, or fruits of glossy hue. 

Or in thick clumps, or negligently spread, 

They clothe, or fly ; here from a deep'ning glade, 

A landscape gay expands its op'ning charms ; 

There to the ground low bend their branching arms, 

And gently check their steps, or in mid air 

High o'er their hands a verdant chaplet rear : 

Or as they muse beneath the noon-tide bower, 

Fling o'er their hair a bloomy scented shower. 

Why should I sing the luscious shrubs, the vines, 

Where round each bow'r their verdant curtain twines? 

There blushing like the rising morn, while love 

Beamed from each eye, Eve sought the nuptial grove. 

And to her youthful lover's longing arms 

Obsequious yielded all her virgin charms. 

The genial hour exulting Nature hails. 

Their sighs ecstatic swell the gentle gales, 

Murmur the waves, fair smile the heavens above, 

And joyful earth congratulates their love; 

Whisper the groves, the rose inclines its head. 

And fiings fresh odors o'er the bridal bed. 

O joys ineffable! O happy pair! 

How blessed, like you, who 'mid their gardens fair 

May dwell, from painful pride afar, may rove 

'Mid fruits and flowers with innocence and love. 

182 'Twas night, and buried in profound repose, 

1790 The numerous tribes of busy mortals lay, 

My wakeful eyes alone forgot to close. 

And thought succeeded to the cares of day ; 

Till wearied nature sunk at length to rest. 

But Fancy hovering still around my head ; 

Fancy, the sleepless tenant of the breast, 

Its airy visions o'er my slumbers spread : 

When to my view a grizly form appears, 

Of mien majestic, but dejected hue. 

Reverend, sunk deeply in the vale of years, 

The Father of the English Song I knew. 

Hail, cried I, Author of immortal lays — 

My Son, said he, these titles now forbear. 

No time remains to waste in useless praise. 



is^Anonymous. Milton's Ghost. An Elegy. J. Debrett. Asylum for Fug. 
Pieces, 1795, 4:123-125. 

Written in the year 1790, when a report prevailed that the Grave of Milton 
had been discovered in Cripplegate Church-Yard, on which occasion the supposed 
remains of this famous Poet were dug, and suffered for some days to remain 
exposed to public view. See the poem on this occasion by Cowper, Appendix J. 



102 THE MILTON TRADITION [194 

A different subject now demands our care! 

Thou know'st, and oft hast mourn'd how hard my lot, 

Of evil days and evil tongues the prey, 

Dishonour'd, unrewarded, and forgot, 

I sunk the unheeded victim of decay, 

Obscurely in a vault my corpse was laid, 

Fenc'd by no shelter from the common doom, 

No voice of praise was heard to soothe my shade, 

No pomp of funeral adorn'd my tomb : 

Yet saw I sons their fathers' faults disclaim. 

The tribute long witliheld of honour pay, 

My strains victorious fill'd the voice of fame. 

Nor grieved I though my corpse unheeded lay. 

But, ah, how shall I tell the dire disgrace ! 

With hands profane my tomb they now disclose, 

My bones torn rudely from their grave deface, 

And rob my ashes of their due repose ! 

Was it for this I toiled in freedom's cause, 

With ceaseless care the arduous labor ply'd. 

Dethroning tyrants, and asserting laws, 

Till light, alas, its friendly aid deny'd? 

Was it for this, though quenched my visual ray, 

I woo'd the Muse to build the lofty rhyme, 

To more than mortal themes attun'd my lay, 

And soar'd beyond the bounds of space and time? 

Is this the fame I hop'd from future days. 

Are these mighty honours they bestow — 

With sacrilegious hands my corpse to raise, 

My bones expose a mercenary show? 

To brand the wretches, who the dead invade. 

With shame and fell remorse be thine the care. 

The cock was heard to crow — no more he said. 

And the thin vision vanished into air. 

183 O for the pen of Milton, to describe 

1790 Thy winning sadness, thy subduing sigh, 

Gentle Maria ; to describe thy pains, 

Assiduous Frederic, to alleviate grief 

And hang a smile upon thy Anna's brow ; 

To paint the sweet composure of thy looks, 

Experienc'd Adriano, thy attempt 

To waken cheerfulness, and frequent eye 

Stealing aside in pity to Maria. 



i83James Hurdis (1763-1801). Adriano; or. The First of Jiiiu: In these 
lines, Sophia is weeping for her brother Gilbert, whom she supposes to be drowned. 
Mo. Rev., Sept., 1790, 84(3) :Si-59- 



195] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 103 

184 But since the gaping world in deep amaze 

1791 Still on thy last eccentric pamphlet gaze, 

Which like great Milton's hero o'er the plain 

Where tumult, discord, and sedition reign. 

18s God of ten million charming things, 

1791 Of whom our Milton so divinely sings. 

186 Whist: a Poem, in Tu'elve Cajitos. 
1791 Sec note below. 

187 In Youth. 

1791 Milton, our noblest poet, in the grace 

Of youth, in those fair eyes and clustering hair, 

That brow untouched by one taint of care 

To mar its openness, we seem to trace 

The front of the first lord of human race. 

'Mid thine own Paradise portrayed so fair, 

Ere Sin or Sorrow scathed it : such the air 

That characters thy youth. Shall time efface 

These lineaments as crowding cares assail! 

It is the lot of fall'n humanity. 

What boots it? armed in adamantine mail. 

The unconquerable mind, and genius high. 

Right onward hold their way through weal and woe, 

Or whether life's brief lot be high or low! 

In Age. 
And art thou he now "fall'n on evil days." 
And changed indeed ! Yet what do this sunk cheek, 
These thinner locks, and that calm forehead speak ! 
A spirit reckless of man's blame or praise, — 
A spirit, when thine eyes to the noon's blaze 
Their dark orbs roll in vain, in suffering meek, 
As in the sight of God intent to seek, 
'Mid solitude or age, or through the ways, 
Of hard adversity, the approving look 



i8<Anonymous. Heroic Epistle To loseph Priestly, LL.D., F.R.S. (1733-1804). 
Cr. Rev., Oct., 1791, n. s., 3:212-214. 

isopgter Pindar, John Wolcott (1738-1819). Ode to Hymen; or. The Hectic. 
The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. London, 1794. III., 43. Quoted also in the 
Crit. Review, June, 1791, n. s., 2:220-223. 

"6Alex. Thomson (1763-1803). Whist: A Poem. The fifth canto of this 
very popular poem "opens with a humorous comparison between the slow prog- 
ress of Milton's Paradise Lost and the Game of Whist toward popularity." Mo. 
Rev., Dec, 1791, 87(6) :40i-404. Crit. Rev., May, 1791, n. s., 2:18-27. 

18'W. L. Bowles (1762-1850). On the Busts of Milton, in Youth and A^e, at 
Stourhead. Ptl. Wks. (Gilfillan), 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1855, 1 -.30-31. 



104 THE MILTON TRADITION [196 

Of its great Master; whilst the conscious pride 

Of wisdom, patient and content to brook 

All ills to that sole Master's task applied, 

Shall show before high heaven the unaltered mind, 

Milton, though thou art poor, and old, and blind! 

i88 For in his own and in his Father's might 

1794 The Savior comes! While as the Thousand Years 

Lead up their mystic dance, the Desert shouts ! 

Old Ocean claps his hands ! The mighty Dead 

Rise to new life, whoe'er from earliest time 

With conscious zeal had urged Love's wondrous plan, 

Coadjutors of God. To Milton's trump 

The high groves of the renovated Earth 

Unbosom their glad echoes : inly hushed, 

Adoring Newton his serener eye 

Raises to heaven. 

189 The Progress of Poetry, Painting, and Music. 
1794 See note belozv. 

190 All hail, thou Western World! by heaven design'd 
1794 Th' example bright, to renovate mankind ; 

Where slept perennial night, shall science rise, 
And new-born Oxfords cheer the evening skies; 
Miltonic strains the Mexic hills prolong, 
And Louis murmurs to Sicilian song. 

See rising bards ascend the steep of fame ! 
Where truth commends and virtue gives a name. 
With Homer's life, with Milton's strength aspire, 
Or catch divine Isaiah's hallow'd fire. 

191 In Homer's craft Jock Milton thrives ; 
Before Eschylus' pen Will Shakespeare drives. 
1796 



188S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834). Religious Musings Christmas Eve of 

1794. Globe Edition, p. 59. 

isojohn Bidlake (1755-1814). The Progress of Poetry, S-c. Poems. 4to. 
Chapman, 171)4. Has lines on Milton, but not found for this paper. Mo. Rev., 
March, 1795, 97(16) :2S5-26i. 

""Timothy Dwight (1752-1817). Greenfield Hill (Conn.) N. Y., 1794- Par* 
ir, lines 72y7Z(>\ VH, 483-486. 

"•Robert Burns (1759-1796). Poem on Pastoral Poetry. The Poetry of 
R— B-- (Henley-Henderson), 1896, 4:50-52. Cf. 4:iosn. 



197] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 

192 (Milton and Homer, sitting, a f feared equal: but) 

1796 When each uprear'd 
His mighty stature, Britain's giant son 

Would proudly rise, and leave the Greek below. 

193 Now their new guest the sacred hosts include, 

1797 They who on earth with kindred lustre shone. 

There 'mid empyreal light shall hail his Gray ; 
There Milton thron'd in peerless glory see; 
The wreath that flames on Thomson's brow survey ; 
The vacant crown that, Cowper, waits for thee. 

194 Come, Muse of Albion ! who in Thomson's verse 

1797 Breathed Liberty's extatic ardent strain, 
Who gave to Addison a Cato's soul, 

To Milton, his sublime exalted strength, 
And to the inimitable Shakespeare's verse, 
The genuine stamp of nature, awful, true 
And forceful as th' impetuous gust of heaven ; 
Give me to share their energy divine : 
Give me to paint, in ardent numbers bold. 

195 What measure the relation needs 

1798 Of heaven's or earth's heroic deeds, 
Milton points out, unless I err; 
Though some a different verse prefer. 

196 It was not thus, when Milton's voice began 

1799 To sing of Eden lost by guilty man : 
Him on her wings celestial rapture bore 

To heights which mortal never reached before: 
Heav'n's awful splendours to his sight display'd. 
And all the horrors of the infernal shade. 



i^-Alex. Thomson (1763-1803). The Paradise of Taste. In this allegorical 
poem, the author is conducted to the Mt. of Sublimity. On the foot-hills, he finds 
Young; higher up, among others, Thomson and Akenside; on the very pinnacle, 
Homer and Milton. Grit. Rev., Feb., 1797, n. s., 19:129-137. 

"^Thos. Gisborne (1748-1846). Elegy To the Memory of the Rev. JVm. 
Mason. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 18:319. 

is^Saml. Hull Wilcocke. Britannia: a Poem. See Mo. Rev., Dec, 1797, 
105(24) :4S4-4S7. 

"sjohn Penn. Crit., Ptl., and Dramatic IVks. Vol. II. See Cr. Rev., Dec, 
1798, n. s., 24:475-476. 

IS' Alex. Thomson (1763-1803'). Pictures of Poetry, &c. 8vo. Edin., lygg. 
Mo. Rev., Oct., 1800, 114(33) :I49-I53- Has also splendid verses on Young. Cr. 
Rev., Nov., 1799, n. s., 27:260-268. 

See Lady Manners's Reviezv of Poetry, Anc. and Modern. A P-teni. 4to. 
Booth, lygf). Mo. Rev., Dec, 1799, iii (30) :390-3. 



106 THE MILTON TRADITION [198 

197 Then thy mighty ear 

1800 Thrilled with strange music ; if the tragic plaints 

And sounding lyre of those Athenians old, 



Or more majestic Homer swelled thy soul, 
Or Milton's muse of fire. 

198 Nor less delight 

1801 The Spirit felt, when still and charmed I sate 
Great Milton's solemn harmonies to hear. 

That swell from the full chord, and strong and clear, 
Beyond the tuneless couplet's weak control, 
Their long-commingling diapason roll. 
In varied sweetness. 

199 Milton! thou shoulds't be living at this hour: 

1802 England hath need of thee: she is a fen 
Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen. 
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, 
Have forfeited their ancient English dower 
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; 
Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; 

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 

Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart: 

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea : 

Pure as the naked heaven, majestic, free, 

So didst thou travel on life's common way, 

In cheerful godliness: and yet thy heart 

The lowliest duties on herself did lay. 

200 We must be free or die, who speak the tongue 

1802 That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold 
Which Milton held. 

201 Come ye — who, not less zealous, might display 

1803 Banners at enmity with regal sway, 

And, like the Pyms and Miltons of that day, 
Think that a State would live in sounder health 
If Kingship bowed its head to common-wealth. 

I'^Richard Mant (1776-1848). Encomium On Joseph IVarton. Chalmers, Eng. 
Pts., 18:156-7. Highly commended by the Mo. Rev., Nov., 1801, 117(36) :323-4- 

i98W_ L Bowles. Monody on the Death of Dr. IVarton. Poems, vol. II. 
Cr. Rev., Aug., 1801, n. s., 32:424-429. 

i99Wm. Wordsworth (1770-1850). Sonnet. London. 

=»»Wm. Wordsworth. "It Is Not To Be Thought Of." 

201-Wm. Wordsworth. Lines on the Expected Invasion. See also the Poet's 
account of his becoming intoxicated drinking healths to Milton. The Prelude. 
III. 283-321. 



199] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 107 

202 And thou, sublimest Milton, from whose tongue 
1803 Flow'd holy inspiration, when beset 

With poverty, with sorrow, blame and scorn, 
"With darkness and with dangers compassed round," 
What but the Muse, thy dreary rooms could light 
With glories of seraphic brilliancy ! 

203 Again, forsaking mirth's fantastic rites, 

1806 The Muse to follow, through her nobler flights ; 

Where Milton paints angelic hosts in arms. 
And Heaven's wide champaign rings with dire alarms, 
Till 'vengeful justice wings its dreadful way. 
And hurls the apostate from the face of day. 
Immortal Bards ! high o'er oblivion's shroud 
Their names shall live, pre-eminent and proud, 
Who snatched the keys of mystery from time. 
This world too little for their Muse sublime ! 

204 Beneath the spreading platan's tent-like shade, 
1812 Or by Missouri's rushing waters laid, 

"Old father Thames" shall be the poet's theme, 
Of Hayley's words th' enamoured virgin dream, 
And Milton's tones the raptured ear enthrall. 
Mixed with the roaring of Niagara's fall. 

205 With reverence would we speak of all the sages 
Kov. Who have left streaks of light athwart their ages : 
1815 And thou shouldst moralize on Milton's blindness, 

And mourn the fearful dearth of human kindness 
To those who strove with the bright golden wing 
Of genius, to flap away each sting 
Thrown by the pitiless world. 

206 Chief of organic numbers ! 
Jan. Old Scholar of the Spheres! 
1818 Thy Spirit never slumbers. 

But rolls about our ears. 



-"-Sir. S. E. Brydges (1762-1837"). Retirement, a Ptl. Fragment. Brydges, 
Cells. Lit., 1 :426. 

="3Thos. Gent. Prologue To Public Readings, At A Young Gentleman's Acad- 
emy. Poetic Sketches. J. Bcart, Yarmouth. 

^^^Mrs. Anna L. Barbauld (1743-1825). "1811." Works, 1:237. 

2»5John Keats (1795-1821). Epistle To George Pelton Mathew. The Ptl. 
Wks. (Bu-xton), I :4s. 

Keats wrote Notes on Paradise Lost in i8ig. See his Poetical Works (Bux- 
ton), III, pp. 19-30. He also wrote a sonnet To Sleep, over Paradise Lost. Ptl. 
Wks., II, p. 347. 

2™John Keats. On Seeing A Lock of Milton's Hair. The Ptl. Wks. (Bux- 
ton), 2:249-251. 



108 THE MILTON TRADITION [200 

For ever and for ever ! 
O what a mad endeavour 

Worketh he, 
Who to thy sacred and ennobled hearse 
Would offer a burnt sacrifice of verse 

And melody. 

How heavenward thou soundest, 

Live Temple of sweet noise, 

And discord unconfoundest, 

Giving delight new joys, 

And Pleasure nobler pinions! 

O, Where are thy dominions? 
Lend thine ear 

To a young Delian — ay, by thy soul. 

By all that from thy mortal lips did roll. 

And by the kernel of thine earthly love. 

Beauty, in things on earth, and things above, 
I swear ! 

When every childish fashion 

Has vanish'd from my rhyme. 

Will I grey-gone in passion. 

Leave to an after-time. 

Hymning and harmony 

Of thee, and of thy works, and of thy life; 

But vain is now the burning and the strife. 

Pangs are in vain, until I grow high-rife 
With old Philosophy. 

And mad with glimpses of futurity ! 

For many years my ofTering must be hush'd; 

When I do speak, I'll think upon this hour, 

Because I feel my forehead hot and flush'd. 

Even at the simplest vassal of thy power,— 

A lock of thy bright hair- 
Sudden it came. 

And I was startled, when I caught thy name 
Coupled so unaware ; 

Yet, at the moment, temperate was my blood. 

I thought I had beheld it from the flood. 

207 (Captain): 

1815- "Newman is made of different clay; 

1829 He walks in his own quiet way ; 

And yet beneath that sober mien 

Gleams of a spirit may be seen, 

Which shows what temper lies supprest 



=o'Robert Southey (1774-1843). Oliver Nciviiian: A Nezv England Tale. 



201] POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 109 

Within his meek and unambitious breast : 

He seemeth surely one of gentle seed, 

Whose sires for many an age were wont to lead 

In courts and councils, and in camp to bleed." 

Randolph replied, "He rules his tongue too well 

Ever of those from whom he sprung to tell : 

Whatever rank they once possessed 

In camps and councils, is, I ween, suppress'd 

In prudent silence. Little love that pair 

Could to the royal Martyr bear. 

Be sure, who named their offspring Oliver. 

You have mark'd that volume, over which he seems 

To pour and meditate, like one who dreams, 

Pondering upon the page with thought intense, 

That nought, which passes round him, can from thence 

His fix'd attention move : 

He carries it about his person still, 

Nor lays it from him for a moment's time. 

At my request, one day, with no good will, 

He lent it me: what, think ye, did it prove? 

A rigmarole of verses without rhyme, 

About the apple, and the cause of sin, 

By the blind old traitor Milton ! and within. 

Upon the cover, he had written thus. 

As if some saintly relic it had been. 

Which the fond owner gloried in possessing: 

'Given me by my most venerable friend. 

The author, with his blessing!'" 

208 With other emotion 

1821 Milton's severer shade I saw, and in reverence humbled 

Gazed on that soul sublime : of passion now as of blindness 
Heal'd, and no longer here to Kings and to Hierarchs hostile. 
He was assoiled from taint of the fatal fruit : and in Eden 
Not again to be lost, consorted and equal with Angels. 

209 Most musical of mourners, weep again ! 
1821 Lament anew, Urania ! — He died. 

Who was the Sire of an immortal strain. 

Blind, old, and lonely, when his country's pride. 

The priest, the slave, and the liberticide, 

Trampled and mocked with a loathed rite 

Of lust and blood ; he went unterrified, 

Into the gulph of death, but his clear sprite 

Yet reigns o'er earth ; the third among the sons of light. 



^o^Robert Southey. A Vision of Judgment. 
zoopercy B. Shelley (1792-1822). Adonais, Stanza iv. 



110 THE MILTON TRADITION [202 

210 Spenser shed over me his sunny dreams ; 
Chaucer far more enchanted me ; the force 
Of Milton was for boyhood too austere, 
Yet often did I steal a glance at Eve. 

211 And Milton in the streets no Taller 
Than sparkling easy-ambling Waller. 
Waller now walks with rhyming crowds ; 
While Milton sits above the clouds, 
Above the stars, his fixt abode, 

And points to men their way to God. 

212 With frowning brow o'er pontif-kings elate 
Stood Dante, great the man, the poet great. 
Milton in might and majesty surpast 

The triple world, and far his shade was cast. 
On earth he sang amid the Angelic host, 
And Paradise to him was never lost. 

Two mighty men stand forth 
Above the flight of Ages, two alone ; 
One crying out 

All nations spoke thro' me. 
The other : 

True; and thro' this trumpet burst 
God's word; the fall of Angels, and the doom 
First of immortal, then of Mortal, Man, 
Glory! be Glory! not to me, to God. 

After reading this incomplete array of poetic compliment, one feels 
that Milton needs no further canonizing. 

Into the Heaven of Heavens (he has) presumed. 
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air. 

Beyond his own supplicating hope, his "fit audience, though few" has 
gradually multiplied into a nation of admirers, nay more, of poetic 
worshipers— for Milton has been virtually deified. If he has not been 
the quickening force of every song in the Eighteenth Century, he has 

2i°Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864). From The Last Fruit off an Old Tree. 
XXXVII. Wks. and Life. 1876. 8 :22o. 

2"W. S. Landor. Additional Poems, cxiv. Wks. and Life, 1876, 8:341. 

2i=W. S. Landor. Add'l Poems, xlii; The Last Fruit, Iv. This last is on 
Shakespeare and Milton. He has other beautiful tributes. Cf. Collection of 1846, 
cxl, and cclxxxviii, To U'ordsworth. The Last Fruit off an Old Tree, ix. To The 
Nightingale; xxi. Ode To Sicily. Dry Sticks, vii, Old-Fashion Verse. The Works 
and Life, 1876, pp. 326, 232, 74, 137, 202, 208, 282. 



203J POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MILTON 111 

at least influenced almost every singer of this period. Urania reigns 
supreme among the Muses, and exacts a tribute from all to whom she 
grants the voice of song. 

This tribute must be paid, whether the song be serious and sublime, 
or trivial in the extreme. Tlie grateful nation breathed a pure Miltonie 
air ; and almost every poet felt himself impelled to analyze and express 
this aU-pervading influence. The chords of feeling that are touched in 
these tributes range tlirough the whole scale of human emotion. There 
is everything here, from political rancor to the teuderest personal sym- 
pathies, from the jocose in tone to the exaltation of Heaven itself. But 
the volume of these voices harmoniously proclaims the universal and 
persistent power of Milton over the life and thought of the English 
people during the period under consideration. 

Nor can anj' one fail to feel how nearly unanimous these tributes 
are in pointing directly to Paradise Lost. Every phase of Miltonie 
interest finds an echo in these poetical re-actions. Almost every piece of 
Milton's writings finds a recognition, general at least, if not specific 
and particular. But the whole sum of this recognition is comparatively 
small. Measured by the emphasis upon Paradise Lost, the other writings 
of Milton seem almost neglected. Even the large element of sympathetic 
biographical allusion refers almost exclusively to that portion of Milton 's 
life which is inseparably connected with his Major Poems. In a word, 
these tributes point mainly to the Major Poems as the object of national 
interest and the source of national influence, emphasizing those dis- 
tinguishing qualities of Milton's Epics that have placed them in the 
highest rank of the world's great masterpieces. 



CHAPTER IV 
The Biographical Treatment op Milton 

Biography is the record and interpretation of the facts through 
which a personality has worked itself out into what is called life. The 
writing of biography implies the answering of two questions. What are 
the facts? and, What do they mean? Thus the biographer enables the 
world to see what he conceives to have been the things essential in the 
personality that he has treated. But the biographer himself is not a 
perfectly transparent medium for facts, nor, as a rule, an unbiased judge 
of their meaning. To see Milton through the medium of Biography, in 
the period under discussion, it is necessary, therefore, to take some notice 
of the biographers who write, of the facts they emphasize, and of the 
meaning they impose. 

After the Restoration Milton was delivered from the hands of ven- 
geance by Davenant and other friends, and lived in obscurity', in Lon- 
don, until the great fire of 1666 drove him from the city. He was 
hated by the court and Tories in general, but highly esteemed by his 
rather remarkable circle of friends. He devoted himself to regular 
habits, and industrious labours upon the great poem, which appeared in 
1667. Milton was always famous, or infamous, according to the temper 
of his judges; and, if Aubrey may be trusted, the aged poet was even 
wearied by the multitude of his visitors. But after all is said that is 
favorable to his condition, still Milton was poor, blind, in obscurity, and 
comparatively neglected, while the King and his court disgraced them- 
selves and the nation in their revelries and sin. The contrast was sharp ; 
and the memories of these facts fell as a sore affliction upon the Milton- 
loving England of a century later. 

During these years, it was the enemies of Milton, and not his 
friends, that spoke loud enough to be heard at the distance of two 
centuries. David Masson, in his exhaustive History of Milton and His 
Time (636n), has summarized the biographical allusions to Milton 
before the publication of Paradise Lost. Those in Heath's Chronicle 
(1663), South's Sermons, and Hacket's Life of Archbishop Williams 
(written 1661-70, published 1692), all describe Milton in terms of viru- 
lent political hatred, and regret that he was not hanged. Two other 



205] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 113 

allusions are cited as more respectful. One of them is from Hobbes, 
whom Milton disliked for theological reasons but esteemed as a man of 
great parts. Hobbes, therefore, returned this feeling of Milton in that 
allusion of the Behemoth, which has more of respect than sympathy. 
The other allusion was by Samuel Butler, who was in sympathy neither 
with Milton, nor with the immorality of the Restoration (Trib. 5). 

Naturally, real biographical interest in Milton did not become active 
until after his death (1674). But almost immediately after that event, 
there was considerable interest in this direction. Among the first efforts 
of this kind were those of John Aubrey (1626-1697), who collected ma- 
terial for a formal Life of Milton. But this collection of Notes never got 
beyond a very amorphous outline stage. He gave a list of Milton 's works, 
and added a note of praise upon the Panegyricks on Cromwell and 
Fairfax. Of Milton himself, Aubrey said, "Whatever he wrote against 
monarchic was out of no animosity to the king's person, or out of any 
faction or interest, but out of a pure zeale to the liberty of mankind, 
which he thought would be greater under a free state than a monarchiall 
government."^ 

Aubrey was a friend of Milton, and the modern reader deeply 
regrets that this sketchy outline was never worked out into a full account 
of the great poet from first hand knowledge. The Life was not written, 
nor did the Notes get into print until long after that time. Instead, 
they were placed in the Ashmolean Museum, whence the manuscript 
was taken by William Godwin, for his Lives of John and Edward 
Phillips (1809). The Notes were, however, promised (Jan., 1675) to 
Anthony A. Wood for his Athenae ct Fasti Oxoniensis. In May of that 
year, Aubrey also assured Wood that "Mr. Marvell has promised me 
to write minutes for you of Mr. John Milton." But these minutes seem 
never to have been written. - 

The first Life of Milton was written by a hand now unknown, and 
apparently incapable of being found out with any considerable degree 
of certainty. The manuscript was discovered by the Rev. Andrew 
Clark, LL.D., in 1889, among the papers of Anthony A. Wood, in the 
Bodleian Library. Mr. E. S. Parsons, who has given an interesthig dis- 
cussion of this Life, together with the text itself, in the English Historical 
Review,'' was not able to determine the author. He believed the MS. 
to be in the author's own handwriting, which Mr. Parsons was unable to 
identify with that of any one of Milton's friends who might have been 
supposed to write such an account of the poet. If the manuscript was 

»A. Clark. Aubrey's Brief Lives, 1669-1696. 2 vols. O.xford, 1898. "Milton," 
vol. II, pp. 60-70. 

^David Masson. Life of Milton, 6:778. Br. Mus. Cat. "William Godwin." 
^Jan., 1902, 17:95-110. 



114 THE MILTON TRADITION [206 

corrected, or transcribed by another hand than that of the author, 
Mr. Parsons believed that the Life was probably the work of Dr. Nathan 
Paget (1615-1679), the close personal friend and physician of Milton." 
If this conjecture be true, the Life was written within five years of the 
great poet's death (1674) ; and, in any case, it was written before 1691, 
for it was one of the obvious sources of Wood's Fasti in that year. 

This earliest biographer of Milton wrote from a full heart of per- 
sonal sympathy with the great politician and poet. The author's out- 
look upon life seems to have been from Milton's point of view, and the 
emphasis upon the moral and the religious side of the poet 's life indicated 
intimate personal relations. The biographer even held it highly improb- 
able that one of such exalted morality could easily err in matters of re- 
ligious doctrine. The writer developed the setting of the several pieces of 
Milton's prose writings in a manner that was favorable to the great 
author. This Life gave no hint of the Minor Poems, an indication that the 
work was independent of, if not prior to, Aubrey's Notes, who mentions 
those poems as twice printed (i.e. 1645, 1673). This friend of Milton 
did, however, mention, with some emphasis. Paradise Lost, Paradise 
Regained, and Samson Agonistes, and paused to affirm that the first 
and second of these "more especially taught all virtue." 

But this friendly activity was rather exceptional in the field of early 
Milton biography. Milton's prominence in the Commonwealth, and his 
celebrity as a writer in defence of that movement, made him an object 
of especial detestation in the early days of the Restoration. It was then 
customary to try for court favour by vilifying the Puritans. Milton 
was therefore a man much written against for several decades after the 
Restoration. 

The very atmosphere of the English court was one of political ani- 
mosity. By none was this more deeply breathed than by William 
Winstanley (1628-1698). In 1687 he published his Lives of the Most 
Famous English Poets, a work in which he won for himself a notorious 
immortality, by venting his spleen against Milton, in the following pas- 
sage, apparently designed by fate for easy quotation : 

"John Milton was one wliose natural parts might deservedly give him a place 
amongst the principal of our English poets, having written two heroic poems and 
a tragedy, namely Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. But 
his fame has gone out like a candle in a snuff, and his memory will always stink,' 
which might have ever lived in honorable repute, had he not been a notorious 

■*Dict, Natl. Biog. "Paget." Masson, Life of Milton, iv, 151. 



207] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 115 

traitor and most impiously and villainously bely'd that blessed martyr 'Charles the 
First.' "•-■ 

The "Account of Milton," given by Anthony A. Wood (1632-1695), 
in his Athenae Oxoniensis et Fasti, was little more sympathetic than 
that of Winstanley. Wood drew his facts largely from the anony- 
mous Life and Aubrey's notes, and his spirit of virulence from the 
common animosity of Toryism. Wood's biographical sense of values 
seems to have obliged him to recognize Milton's greatness and potential 
goodness, but the "Account" showed no sympathy with the career of the 
great politician and poet. Wood felt that all of Milton's exalted powers 
were either prostituted or misapplied. 

In his "Account of Edward Phillips," Wood styled Milton "the 
defender of the murder of King Charles I." Wood was even more severe 
in saying that "John Phillips early imbib'd the rankest autimonarchial 
principles from that villainous leading incendiary John Milton, his uncle." 
In the more formal account of the poet. Wood found Milton "at length 
arrived to that monstrous and unparalleled height of profligate impu- 
dence, as in print to justify the most execrable murder of him the best of 
kings, — afterwards being made Latin Secretary to the Parliament, we 
find him a commonwealth's man." 

With Milton's poetry Wood seems to have had little concern. He 
did comment, somewhat indifferently, upon Milton's studious habits in 
College, and added that he "wrote then several poems." Beyond this 
comment, Wood mentioned the 1673 edition of the Minor Poems, and 
the Major Poems, only as so many historical facts." 

Naturally Gerard Langbaine (1656-1692), in his Account of the 
Dramatic Poets (1691), gave more attention to Comus and Samson 
Agonistes than to any other of Milton's poems. In his biographical 
sketch of the poet, however, Langbaine expressed the usual antipathy 
toward Milton the politician. He mentioned by name several of the 
uudramatic poems and prose pieces of Milton ; but confessed that he 
knew little about the poems, and proved his ignorance most convincingly 
in his misstatements of obvious facts. He regretted that Milton's 
principles were not as good as his parts; for then ' ' he had been an excel- 
lent person ; but his demerit towards his Sovereign has very much sullied 
his Eeputation." This comment of Langbaine was changed, in a later 
edition of the Dramatic Poets (1699), edited by Charles Gildon, to read 
^This work of Winstanley was not unread in the eighteenth century. The 
British Museum copy (C. 45, d. 13) has MS. notes by Bishop Percy. David 
Lloyd, Canon of St. Asaph, selected from it certain "Lives" for his State IVorthies 
(1766). 

<^Ath. Oxon. ct Fasti. Edited by Philip Bliss. 4 vols. London, iS.'O. "Edw. 
Phillips," 4 760-769. "Milton," 2 :48o-486. These accounts were written about 
1691-2. The Fasti was added to the Ath. O.xon., in the edition of 1721. 



116 THE MILTON TRADITION [208 

as follows : Milton was ' ' an aixthor of that excellence of genius and 
learning, that none of any age or nation, I think, has excel 'd him."^ 
This change was due largely to tlie difference in literary temperament 
between Langbaine and Gildon, but it indicated a change of emphasis 
which began to assert itself during the last decade of the century. Mil- 
ton the poet began to emerge above the confusion of political strife. 

This distinction between Milton as politician and as poet was sharply 
drawn by Addison, in his poetical Account of Milton (1694, Trib, 21), 
and by Yalden, when Milton's Prose was published with his poems (1698, 
Trib. 23). In the same year that Addison's Account appeared (1694), 
Sir Thomas Pope Blount (1649-1697) published his Dc Re Poetica, which, 
in many references, considered Milton mainly as a poet. The second 
Part, called Characters and Censures, devoted four pages to "John 
Milton," basing the criticism almost entirely upon Paradise Lost, Para- 
dise Regained, and Samson Agonistcs, though Milton was allowed to have 
international fame from "his other (prose?) works, both Latin and 
English.* 

In this same year (1694) a new departure appeared in the biography 
of Milton. That was the publication of his Life with his Letters of 
State, edited by his nephew Edward Phillips (1630-1696?). This Life 
was intended to be a sort of introduction to the Letters, and naturally 
laid special emphasis upon the political side of Milton 's career. Phillips 
printed in this Life four of the Sonnets, closely connected with Milton's 
political activities — those To Cromwell, Fairfax, Vane, and To Skinner 
upon Ms Blindness. The biographer showed himself familiar with all 
the Minor Poems, but singled out Lycidas alone for special mention. 
He devoted considerable attention to the common view, that Paradise 
Regained was "generally censured to be much inferior to the other," 
and was the authority for Milton's impatient fondness for this younger 
offspring of his Muse." This Life was, of course, sympathetic, and became 
even more valuable to later biographers of Milton. 

The new plan of furnishing a biographical introduction to Milton's 
Works was followed by John Toland (1670-1722), who prepared a new 
Life of Milton for his edition of the Prose Works (1698). This Life 
was printed separately the next year, at which time Amyntor; or A 
Defence of Milton's Life also appeared from the same pen. The neces- 
sity for this latter work, Toland regarded with a measure of surprise. 

''An Acct. of the Eng. Dra. Poets. Oxford, i6qi, pp. 37S-37"- There seems to 
have been an edition of this work in 1696. It was reissued, and brought down to 
date, in 1699, by Gildon (B. M. Cat.), who is accredited with the addition of 182 
pages. The work was republished by Mayhew, 1751. 

»£><? Re Poetica (1694), pp. 135-138. 

^Life of Milton (1694), p. .xxxix. 



209] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 117 

When I undertook," he said, "to write the Life of the most cele- 
brated Milton, I was far from imagining that I should ever be obliged to 
make an apology in justification of such a work, both harmless in itself, 
and greatly desired by the world.""' 

Toland was a liberal in philosophical and religious thought, and a 
liberal in politics. His treatment of Milton partook of the same general 
spirit. Naturally, he was sympathetic with some of Milton's radical 
views in his Prose Works, which Toland seems to have edited, as he 
thought, in the interest of truth and progress. He exalted Paradise 
Lost, and showed some just appreciation of other poems. Like most of 
the other biographers, Toland selected Lycidas and Comus for special 
comment. Lycidas he regarded "one of the finest Milton ever wrote" 
(p. 132). He said that Milton made good his early ambition "in his 
inimitable poem of Paradise Lost, and before this time in his Comus, 
like which piece in the peculiar disposition of his story, the sweetness of 
the numbers, the justness of the expression, and the moral it teaches, 
there is nothing extant in any language" (p. 36). Otherwise, however, he 
treated the Minor Poems only as a group of juvenile performances." 

^"Amyiitor. ed, 1761, p. 156. The occasion which called forth this Defence, 
was a mixture of malice, politics, and religion. In the Life Toland had argued 
that Gauden, and not Charles I, was the author of Icon BasUike, and had said 
that, as men were mistaken about this, so they might be mistaken about the 
authenticity of some of the early Christian writings. Toland denied any allusion 
to the New Testament Canon. But the church regarded this suggestion as a deis- 
tical challenge; and an obscure rector, OITspring Blackall (1654-1716), offered 
acceptance. The controversy brought Blackall into notice, won for him the Boyle 
Lectureship at St. Paul's (1700), and paved his way to the bishopric and arch- 
deaconry of Exeter (D. N. B.). 

In Aniyntor, Part III, Toland gave the history of Icon BasUike, in proof of 
the Gauden's authorship. This argument provoked three rejoinders in the same 
year (1699). (i) ^ Defence of the Vindication of King Charles I, in Anszver to 
a late pamphlet intituled Aniyntor; (2) Remarks on the Life of Mr. Milton, as 
Published by J. T. With a Character of the Author and his Party. In a Letter 
to a Member of Parliament (Post Boy, Jan. 3-5, 1699) ; — and (3) Some Reflec- 
tions on that Part of a Book called Aniyntor . . . which relates to the Writings of 
the Primitive Fathers, and the Canon of the New Testament. Most of the viru- 
lence of these writings was, however, more against Toland, than against Milton. 
In 1738, Thomas Birch set forth both sides of the original question of the Gauden 
authorship, and left it for impartial judges to decide the question upon its merits. 
Complete Prose Works of Milton (1738). Vol. I, pp. Ixiv-xcvii. 

iiThis Life of Milton, together with Amyntor, was republished by Thomas 
Hollis (1720-1774), in 1761. Hollis was an enthusiastic student of Milton, and 
believed him to be the greatest champion of liberty. This same year he bought 
the bed on which Milton died, and presented it (June 12, 1761) to Akenside, 
requesting him to celebrate Milton as "the assertor of British liberty" in an Ode. 



118 THE MILTON TRADITION [210 

Toland's observation above was, perhaps, the first biograijhical indication 
of the genius of Paradise Lost in the earlier poetry. 

It may have been that the labours of Phillips and Toland inspired, 
or at least aroused, the historian Gilbert Burnet (1643-1715) to write 
the following passages in his A History of My Oivn Time. The work was 
written soon after the year 1700, but was not published until after 
the author's death. The first volume appeared in 1723, and was 
well received; but the second volume (1734) was not so much ap- 
plauded. Burnet seems to have had little sympathy with the Com- 
monwealth movement, and yet felt himself constrained to admire 
the genius of Milton as revealed in Paradise Lost. Few writers, at 
any time, have mirrored more faithfully the national feeling respecting 
Milton, than this single paragraph has done at the opening of the 
Eighteenth Century. There one may see the deepest hatred of Milton 
as a politician, which was still powerful among the royalists. There is 
also an evident interest in the traditions of Milton's somewhat mysterious 
personal history after the Restoration. There is further a sort of irre- 
sistible national pride which, in spite of all political prejudices, has crept 
in, with its leavening power, to season his praise of him who had hon- 
oured the nation in the excellence of Paradise Lost. 

"John Goodwin and Milton did also escape all censure, to the scandal of all 
people. — Milton had appeared so boldly, though with much wit, and great purity 
and elegancy of his Latin style, against Salmasius and others, upon that argu- 
ment, and had discovered so virulent a malice against the late king and all the fam- 
ily, and against monarchy, that it was a strange omission if he was forgot, and 
an odd strain of clemency if it was intended he should be forgotten ; but he was 
not excepted out of the act of indemnity. AnA afterwards he came out of his 
concealment, and lived many years, much visited by all strangers, and much 
admired by all at home for the poems he writ, though he was then blind; chiefly 
that of Paradise Lost, in which there is a nobleness both of contrivance and 
execution, that, though he aflfected to write in blank verse without rithm, and 
made many new and rough words, yet it was esteemed the beautifulest and 
perfectest poem that ever was writ, at least in our language."'- 

While the quotation from Burnet reveals the national feeling for 
Milton, the following statement from A Complete History of Europe 
Akenside accepted the gift, and is said to have died in this bed, but he never wrote 
the Ode. The ardor of Hollis was, however, in no wise abated. When his 
edition of Toland's Life &c came out, he sent copies of it with "Milton's Prose 
Works as presents to many private persons, both at home and abroad, and to a 
considerable number of public libraries in foreign countries." (Cr. Rev., Sept., 
1781, 52:161-175.) 

'^-A History of My Ozvii Time. cd. Osmond Airy. 2 vols. O.vford, 1897. 
Vol. I, pp. 283-284. Cf. I, pp. xxvii, xxxi. This work seems to have appeared in 
French (173S). 



211] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 119 

(1705) indicates the feeling for Milton as a cliaracter of international 
interest and imijortanee. "There is hardly anything," said the his- 
torian, "that can make this year (1674) more remarkable than the death 
of John Milton — He has left us an inimitable poem in his blank verse, 
called Paradise Lost."'^ Bishop White Kennet, D.D., (1660-1728), who 
utilized Milton's History (1670) in his own Compleat History of Eng- 
land (1706), naturally assumed a favourable attitude toward Milton 
whenever there was opportunity.'* 

No account of Milton as seen through the eyes of the early Eighteenth 
Century would be complete without some mention of Thomas Ellwood 
(1639-1713), whose History of himself by his own hand, was published 
(1714). Ellwood was a Quaker, who had received a favorable introduc- 
tion to Milton, and became a pupil, friend, and assistant to the great 
poet in his blindness. Ellwood, in his direct Quaker fashion, tells a 
delightful story of his reading to the poet, learning from the great 
master the Latin tongue, helping him to escape to Chalfont St. Giles from 
the plague in London, of his own freedom and personal intimacy with the 
poet and in his home, and, with .much pride, ef his own suggestion that 
led to the writing of Paradise Regained. Every one reads this well-told 
story with a sense of regret that the few pages are not greatly mul- 
tiplied." 

The next two biographical treatments of Milton, both short and 
unimportant, were by Giles Jacob (1686-1744), and appeared in The 
Poetical Register (vol. I, 1719, and II, 1720).'" Both accounts were 
sympathetic. The first volume was devoted to "The English Dramatic 
Poets, ' ' and the second to ' ' Our Most Considerable English Poets. ' ' The 
first account is a very brief sketch, which mentioned Comus and Sam- 
son, dating the latter 1682, and commenting on Milton's imitation of the 
Greek models. The writer said, that "this author has made himself 
Immortal by his Poem called Paradise Lost," and quoted Dry den's 

^^Quoted by Mr. Havens. 

"Bishop White Kennet, D.D. (1660-1728). A Complete History of England, 
with the Lives of all the Kings and Queens thereof, from the earliest Time to the 
Death of William III. 1706. s vol. Fol. The 2nd ed. enlarged and corrected. 
3 vols. Fol. 1719. The Notes are by J(ohn) S(trype). 

^■-The History of the Life of Thomas Elhvood, by his oivn Hand. ed. C. C. 
Crump. Putnam's, N. Y., 1900, pp. 88ff., 144-145, An Extract on these Relations 
with John Milton, is given in An Eng. Garner, Crit. Essays and Lit. Fragments, 
by J. C. Collins, vol. 7, 13S-148. 

The autobiographical part of this History stopped at 1683, from which point 
it was continued to EUwood's death, by J(oseph) W(yeth). There was a 2nd 
ed. in 1714, 3rd 1765, 4th 1791, 5th 1825, 6th 1855. 

'<^The Poetical Register. Vol. I (1719), 183-4; II (1720), 160-6. 



120 THE MILTON TRADITION [212 

Epigram (Trib. 16) as "finely drawn." The second account was longer. 
The autlior drew his facts largely from Wood, quoted fifty-four lines of 
Paradise Lost (III) on Milton's blindness/" and took his critical esti- 
mates from Dry den, and (without acknowledgments) from The Athenian 
Mercury}'* 

Among the most popular accounts of Milton ever written was the 
brief Life of Milton, by Elijah Fenton (1683-1730), written hurriedly 
in the summer of 1725, published with Paradise Lost in that year, and 
revised into its permanent form early in 1726.'^ The secret of this 
popularity was stated by Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Fenton. "To this 
edition (1725)," said the Doctor, " (Fenton) prefixed a short and elegant 
account of Milton's Life, written at once with tenderness and integ- 
rity."-" 

Fenton was rather conservative, than radical, in matters of religion 
and politics. He could not approve the political career of Milton, but 
prudently praised what he could in the man, and drew the veil of ob- 
livion over what he could not praise. Fenton wondered, as did Newton 
later, that Milton's "daring" spirit had not led him into the ranks of 
the army ; but supposed the restraint to have come from respect to 
parental authority (xi). The author seems to have defined the political 
side of his feelings in the following sentences: 

"Far be it from me to defend his engaging with a Party combin'd in the 
destruction of our Church and Monarchy. Yet, leaving the justification of a mis- 
guided sincerity to be debated in the Schools, may I presume to observe in his 
favor, that his zeal, distempered and furious as it was, does not appear to have 

"Appendix B. 

^^The Ath. Mercury, Jan. i6, 1691. Chap, v, Note 13, below. 



^'Letter of Fenton 


to Broome, Jan. 


13 (1726). Pole's li'ork^ (Elwin & C.) 


viii, p. 112. 








The Ufe appeared 


with P. L. as follows (Chap. II, 


sect, i) : 


28 1725 


36 1739 


55 1753 


95 1776 


29 1-27 


37 1741 


58 1754 


96 1777 


30 1727 


41 1746 


69 1761 


103 178s 


31 1730 


49 175 1 


7i 1 76s 


106 1788 


32 1731 


SO 1751 


74 176s 


109 1790 


35 1738 


51 1752 


92 1775 


116 1793 \ 


122 1795 








French 1729 








1753 








In the nineteenth 


century, Fenton's 


Life appeared in 


1802, 1804, 1806, 1808, 


1812, 1813, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1820, 1821, 1830?, 1833, 1855. (Bri 


it. Mus. Cat. "Fenton"). 


Ed. 1727 used in this work. 






'"Life of Fenton. 


(Hill). II, 261. 







213] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 121 

been inspirited by self-interested views." Fenton felt tliat "a full protection from 
the Government . . . was in truth more than he could have reasonably hop'd" 
(xvii). 

Fenton had, however, a boundless admiration for Milton the 
poet, whom he loved and studied assiduously. Fenton was the first 
biographer to devote a formal section of the Life of Milton to a critical 
discussion of his poetry. "We come now," said Fenton in the introduc- 
tion of this section, "to take a survey of him in that point of view, in 
which He will be look'd on by all succeeding ages with equal delight, 
and admiration" (xviii). He mentioned Comus, L' Allegro, II Penseroso, 
and Lycidas as sufficient, "though He had left no other monuments of 
his Genius, ' ' to render Milton 's ' ' name .... immortal. ' ' Fenton devoted 
some attention to Milton's early purpose to write a heroic poem, and 
then turned his pen directly to the praise of Paradise Lost. 

"In the year 1667 he published his Paradise Lost ; the noblest Poem, next to 
those of Homer and Virgil, that ever the wit of man produced in any age or nation. 
Need I mention any other evidence of its inestimable worth, than that the finest 
Geniuses who have succeeded him have ever esteemed it a merit to relish, and 
illustrate, its beauties? Whilst the Critic who gazed, with so much wanton 
malice, on the nakedness of Shakespear when he slept, after having formally 
declared war against it, wanted courage to make his attack : . . . . Nor is it 
unworthy our observation, that though, perhaps, no One of our English Poets hath 
excited so many admirers to imitate his Manner, yet I think never any was known 
to aspire to emulation : even the late ingenious Mr. Philips, who, in the colors of 
style came the nearest of all the Copiers to resemble the great Original, made his 
distant advances with a filial reverence ; and restrained his ambition within the 
same bounds which Lucretius prescribed to his own imitations" (xix-xx). 

Fenton devoted about seven pages, or one-fourth of the entire Life, 
to Paradise Lost. He observed some of the biographical elements in the 
Epic, dwelt upon the difficulties of Milton in having "This Divine Poem 
licens'd for the Press," and spoke with a sense of national shame of the 
"Fifteen Pounds" received for the original copy (xx-xxi). He allowed 
that Milton had faults, even poetical faults, as was evident in the 
"falling-off" in Paradise Regained. But "not to have had some faults, 
and misfortunes, to be laid in the balance with the fame, and felicity 
of Writing Paradise Lost, wou'd have been too great a portion for 
humanity" (xxv). 

Soon after the popular Life by Fenton, biographical and historical 
accounts of Milton began to multiply very rapidly. This multiplication 
went hand in hand with the widening interest in Milton, sometimes 
as cause, sometimes as efl'ect. Paradise Lost was defended and explained, 
as will appear in Chapter VI below. The Minor Poems were brought 
into prominence, and the Prose Writings began to be made popular. 
These growing interests, because of the occasional character of most of 



122 THE MILTON TRADITION [214 

Milton's writings, demanded larger acquaintance with him, and, in 
turn, stimulated a popvilar thirst to know more of the great poet- 
politician. Moreover, his embodiment of a great historical movement 
which appeared to many at this time to furnish hope against national 
despondency, stimulated interest in the poet's career. It was, on the 
whole, a time when the deepening influence of Milton was turning the 
nation toward himself. He was, therefore, a man who was, in a double 
sense of the word, much "written-up" during the period that followed 
1730. 

Most of these accounts of Milton were favorable, if not aggressively 
sympathetic.-^ Those who could not sanction all of his political and 
religious views were restrained, by the exalted influence of Paradise Lost, 
from doing violence to the author of that divine poem. Points of praise 
were sought out and emphasized, unpleasant matters were either omitted 
altogether, or dispassionately narrated, and ofi'ensive results were 
studiously avoided. These principles of narration all appear in the fol- 
lowing notices of Milton, taken from The History of the Puritans (1733), 
by Daniel Neal (1678-1743), who seems to have tempered his narration 
to suit the spirit of his immediate audience : 

"The books of the great Milton, and Mr. John Goodwin, published in defence 
of the sentence of death passed upon his late majesty, were called in by procla- 
mation. And upon the 27th of August, Milton's Dcfeiisio fro Populo Anglicano 
contra Salmashun, and his answer to a book entitled, The Portraiture of his 
sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings, were burned by the hands of the 
common hangman ; together with Mr. John Goodwin's book, entitled. The Ob- 
structors of Justice; but the authors absconded till the storm was over. It was a 
surprise to all that they had escaped prosecution. None but Goodwin and Peters 
had magnified the king's execution in their sermons; but Goodwin's being a 
strenuous Arminian procured him friends. Milton had appeared so boldly, though 
with much wit, and so great purity and elegance of style, upon the argument of 
the king's death, that it was thought a strange omission not to except him out of 
the Act of Indemnity; but he lived many years after, though blind, to acquire 
immortal renown by his celebrated poem of Paradise Lost." 

"This year (1674) put an end to the life of that great man, John Milton, born 
in London, and educated in Christ College, Cambridge, where he discovered an 
uncommon genius, which was very much improved by his travels. He was Latin 
Secretary to the Long Parliament, and wrote in defence of the murder of King 
Charles I, against Salmasius and others, with great spirit, and in a pure and elegant 
Latin style. He was afterwards secretary to the Protector Cromwell, and lost the 
sight of both his eyes by hard study. At the Restoration some of his books were 

2> Bishop Samuel Parker, in The History of Hii Own Time, in Four Books, 
Trans, from the Latin by Thos. Newlin, London, 1727, devoted a section to 
"Marvell," claiming that, "by the interest of Milton, to whom he was somewhat 
agreeable from his ill-natured wit, he was made Under-secretary to Cromwell's 
Secretary." 



215] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TKEATMEXT OP MILTON 123 

burned, and himself in danger; but he was happily included in the Act of Indem- 
nity, and spent the remainder of his life in retirement. He was a man of an 
unequalled genius, and acquired immortal fame by his incomparable poem of 
Paradise Lost; in which he manifested such a sublimity of thought and such 
elegance of diction, as perhaps were never exceeded in any age or nation 
of the world. His daughters read to him, after he was blind, the Greek poets, 
though they understood not the language. He died in mean circumstances, at 
Bunhill Row, in the sixty-seventh year of his age."-- 

Tlie next year after Neal's cautious account, the public was favored 
with the longest and most sympathetic Life of Milton hitherto pub- 
lished. This Life was the work of Jonathan Richardson, who published 
it in the Explanatory Notes on .... Paradise Lost (1734), to which his 
son contributed much in the wa.y of classical learning.-^ The elder 
Eichardson was an artist, and a man of rather keen literary interests. 
He had had a long and extensive experience with public life, and had 
treasured uj) many valuable literary anecdotes and traditions of the 
Eestoration period. His owai life had extended almost back to the 
Commonwealth, and thus subtended a large and important arc of 
English history. In this Life of Milton Richardson brought together a 
wealth of reminiscent materials of great interest and permanent value. 

The first thing in the book is a full page portrait of Milton, in his 
later life, with a crown of laurel upon his head. Richardson had ' ' given 
a little more vigor to the print" (ii), and placed the crown upon Mil- 
ton's head because all men allowed it to the great poet. The general 
import of this Life was adequately stated in the biographer's opening 
sentences : 

"If I. can give a more Exact, and a more Just Idea of Milton, and Paradis^e 
Lost than the Public has yet had of Either, I am assured it will be Acceptable to 
all Honest and Ingenious Minds of What Party Soever. This is All I Intend; 
not a Panegyrick, not to give my Own Sense of what a Man should be, but what 
this Man Really was. Not to Plead for the Poet, or the Poem, but for Truth, by 
giving Light into what hath Hitherto lain in Obscurity, and by Dispelling Mis- 
takes which have Injur'd the Memory of a Deserving Man, Debas'd a work Worthy 
of the Highest Estimation, and Robb'd the World of the Pleasures and Ad- 
vantage it Might have Receiv'd, and I presume to Hope Will Hereafter Receive. 
This is My Aim in the Present Undertaking." (On the next page, he says,) "the 
Print Prefix'd shows the Face of him Who Wrote Paradise Lost, the Face We 
chiefly desire to be acquainted with." 

"-"-History of the Puritans. Vol. I, 17,32; II, 1/33; HI. 1/36; IV, 1738- 5 vols., 
edited by Dr. Joshua Toulmin, 1797. II, 219-20, 280. 

^^Explanatory Notes on Milton's Paradise Lost. By Jonathan Richardson. 
Father (1665-1747) and Son (1696-1771). With a Life of the Author, John Milton. 
London, 1734. 2nd ed., 1735. Life, pp. i-clxiii. 



124 THE MILTON TRADITION [216 

The last idea above was what gave direction to the author's bio- 
graphical efforts. Plainly from the first he was interested primarilj^ 
in the truth of him who wrote Paradise Lost. In keeping with this par- 
ticular interest, the author recognized the Minor Poems of Milton 
mainly as evolutionary facts in the development of his mind for his 
supreme work. This development was represented, as it were, from 
within the mind itself. Through liberal citations from his poetry and 
prose, Milton was made to reveal the growing fulness and ripening 
purpose of his own mind, as it steadily approached the full magnitude 
of genius in Paradise Lost. 

The political tone of the Life was greatly subdued, and in all the 
incidental matters there was a splendid sympathy with the great poet. 
Especially was this sympathy evident in matters relating to Milton 
after the Restoration. The whole account closed with an Apostrophe 
that rounded out the biographer's original design: 

"O Milton, thou hast employ'd all thy Vast Treasure of Wit, Learning and 
Ability, all the Beauty, Energy, and Propriety of Words Our Language was 
capable of, all the Sweetness and Harmony of Numbers thy Musical and Judicious 
Ear furnished thee with, all the Fire and Beauty and Sublimity of Imagination 
Peculiar to thyself, Added to what could be supplied by those who have most 
excelled in that Angelical Faculty, in Whatever Ages or Languages, All the 
Firmness, Force, and Dignity of Mind thy Virtue and Piety Excited in thee, or 
Rewarded thee with : and together with All These a Genius Perfectly Poetical, if 
Ever Man's was. and That Regulated by a most Solid Judgment. All these thou 
hast Consecrated to Produce a Poem, more Instrumental than Other Human 
Composition, to Calm and Purify the Mind, and through the Delightful Regions of 
Poetry, to Exalt and Fix it to the Mysteries, Sublimities, and Practice of Religion; 
to a State of Tranquility and Happiness, the Utmost Morality is Capable of." 

The next biographer of Milton was the Rev. Thomas Birch (1705- 
1766). He was an ardent Whig, and under the influence of that party, 
rose rapidly in church and political recognition. He was made secretary 
of the Royal Society, and figured among men of letters as an historian 
and an advocate of liberty. In 1738, he edited The Complete Prose 
Works of Milton, in two folio volumes, with An Account of the Life and 
Writings of Mr. John Milton.-* 

-<The Account of Milton occupied pp. i-lxiii. with an .Appendix, pp. Ixiv-xcvii, 
in Vol, I of the Prose Works 1738, and was reprinted with the second edition of the 
Works, 1753. 

But the biographical interest of Birch in Milton was not limited to the one 
Life. In 1743, the first volume of a work, in large folio, entitled, The Heads of 
Illustrious PerAons of Great Britain, with their Lives and Characters, was pub- 
lished in London. Vol. II appeared in 1747-52; a new edition, in 1756 (Mo. Rev. 
7:255-277); another, in 1813. This elaborate work was under the direction of 
Birch, who prepared the "Lives." Milton appeared as No. 54, in Vol. I, with a 



217] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 125 

This Account was sympathetic with most of Milton's views; and 
being an introduction to the Prose Works, naturally gave considerable 
attention to the circumstances of Milton's middle Life. But the bal- 
ance was not lost between this and other periods of Milton's career, 
and the total impression is that of an unusual interest in Milton the 
poet, and especially in him as the author of Paradise Lost. 

On the political side of Milton's Life, Birch seems to have cited 
with approval Milton's own justification of his early attitude toward 
the Established Church (vi). Birch regarded an abuse of Milton, even 
as early as 1704-6, "a Reproach only to the Person who is rash enough 
to pass it."-= While observing the facts with fidelity. Birch still suc- 
ceeded in representing the Prose Works in a manner that tended to 
secure for most of the pieces a more candid consideration from the 
reading public. Such evidently was the biographer's intentions, who 
followed Tolaud in the initial impulses of this Life, and allied Milton 
with tlie cause of liberty. 

Birch gave considerable attention to Comus and Lycidas. He had 
access to the original manuscripts of these poems, then in the Library 
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and printed them for the curious, "as 
it will be extremely agreeable to see the first Thoughts and subsequent 
Corrections of so great a Poet as Milton" (vii-xvi). Birch approved 
Richardson's emphasis upon the originality in Comus, and Warburton's 
of the descriptive excellencies in the scenes of Eden (xiv). 



full page portrait, and a two-page compactly written Life. But the account has 
no distinguishing features. 

More important were Birch's relations to the Account of Milton given by 
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), in his Dictionnairc Historique et Critique (cinquieme 
edition, Tome III, 393-399, 1740). This work was published in 1695-97, and 
enlarged in 1702. It was, in 1734-1741, translated into English and edited, with 
corrections and comments, by Thomas Birch, assisted by John Peter Barnard 
(d. 1750), John Lockman (1698-1771), and other hands. The work contained an 
Account of Milton, with a Supfteincnt (vol, vii, 1738, 567-575-588). The Original 
Account, by Bayle, was very unsympathetic, and needed much supplementing and 
correction. This additional work was attributed to Birch (B. M. C). It was 
certainly under his oversight. But it was signed "T". and has some internal 
evidence of havmg been written by another hand. Birch's attitude toward the 
original work of Bayle may be seen in the next note below. 

^''"Milton has been very injuriously treated by the anonymous .^uthor of 
Remarques Critiques sur la nouvcllc Edition de Dictionnairc Historique de Morcri 
donne en 1704, in the second Edition of the Book published by Mons. Bayle at 
Amsterdam, 1706. For this Writer represents him. not only as a Man absolutely 
without the least Religion, but likewise as a wretched Poet, and worse Orator. 
But such a Judgment is a Reproach only to the Person who is rash enough to 
pass it." Birch, Life of Milton, p. I.xiii. 



126 THE MILTON TRADITION [218 

The biographer cited a loBg letter from Henry Wotton to Miltou; 
but Birch seems to have felt the Minor Poems, as a group, sufficiently 
praised in the following Preface of Humphrey Moseley the Stationer, 
to the Reader (ed. 1645) : 

"It is not any private respect of gain, gentle Reader, for the slightest pamphlet 
is now adays more vendible than the works of the learnedest Men; but it is the 
Love I have to our own Language, that hath made me diligent to collect and set 
forth such peeces both in prose and vers, as may renew the wonted Honour and 
Esteem of our English tongue : and it's the worth of these both English and Latin 
Poems, not the flourish of any prefixed Encomions, that can invite thee to buy 
them, though these are not without the highest Commendations and Applause of 
the learnedest Academies both domestick and f orreign ; and amongst those of our 
own Country, the unparall'd Provost of Eaton, Sir Henry Wotton. I know not 
thy Palate how it relishes such Dainties, nor how harmonious thy Soul is ; perhaps 
more trivial Airs may please thee better. But however thy Opinion is spent upon 
these, that Incouragement I have already received from the most ingenious Men 
in their clear and courteous Entertainment of Mr. Waller's late choice Peeces, 
hath once more made me adventure unto the world, presenting it with these ever- 
green, and not to be blasted Laurels. The Author's more peculiar Excellency in 
these Studies was too well known to conceal his Papers, or to keep me from 
attempting to soUicit them from him. Let the Event guide itself which way it 
will. I shall deserve of the Age by bringing into the light as true a Birth as the 
Muses have brought forth since our famous Spenser wrote, whose Poems, in these 
English ones are as rarely imitated, as sweetly excel' ed. Reader, if thou art eagle- 
eied to censure their Worth, I am not fearful to expose them to thy exactest 
perusal." (Birch, Prose Works of Milton, 1738. L xxvi.) 

Birch dwelt with a feeling of national pride upon the merits of 
Paradise Lost, as the climax in the career of a great productive genius. 
Step by step he traced the development of that genius toward its final 
expression. That development was really the standpoint from which 
he viewed the early manuscripts of Gonitis and Lycidas. He emphasized 
Milton's early ambitions to write a great work, and observed the proph- 
ecy of that future greatness, in the Italian Ode by Antonio Franeini 
(Trib. 4), and by others (xvii). He indicated the persistent interest 
of Milton in King Arthur, as stated in Mansus (xviii), and in the 
Epitaphiuni Damonis, vrhere the epic purpose had become evident (xix). 
He cited Milton's elaborate statement of his lofty purpose in The Reason 
of Church Government (1641) ; and later gave the manuscript outlines 
of the proposed Tragedy on the Fall of Man (xx-xxi and xxxix-xlix). 

The biographer, after stating the usual traditions about the writing 
and publication of Paradise Lost, laid new emphasis upon the early 
reputation of the poem, and subsequent Miltonie interests. ' ' This poem 
of our author," said Birch, "has met with an Approbation, which will 
continue as long as a true taste for Poetry shaU remain among man- 



219] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 127 

kind." This double statement of fact and prophecy was supported by 
five folio pages of criticism, extracted from those whose praises showed 
a rising tide of esteem, at home and abroad, for the matchless Paradise 
Lost."^ 

While these multiplied labours were engaging the energies of 
Birch, the Rev. Francis Peck (1692-1743) produced New Memoirs of 
the Life and Poetical Works of Mr. John Milton (1740)." This co- 
piously filled volume, as miglit be expected from its varied contents, 
gave a fairly just account of Milton and his poetical works. Larger 
proportions of attention were bestowed upon the several poems than in 
any previous Life of the Poet. The work is noteworthy for three special 
points of interest. The first is the strong defence of Milton's ability in 
rhyme, against the strictures of Dryden upon the Juvenile Poems. The 
second is that Peck was among the first to illustrate the writings of 
Shakespeare and Milton "by extracts from contemporary writers, in 
accordance with the model subsequently followed by Stevens and Ma- 
lone."-' The third is the new method of analyzing the poems Lycidas, 
Comus, L' Allegro, II Penseroso, and the Nativity Ode, in a manner not 
unlike that employed later by Dr. Johnson, in his celebrated treatment 
of Milton. 

In 1747, Martha Whincop, widow of the late Thomas Wliincop 
(d. 1730), the author of Scandeberg ; or, Love and Liberty, A Tragedy, 
edited that work, and added a "List of Dramatic Authors, and All 
Dramatic Pieces, to 1747." This List, though in her name, was proba- 
bly revised, if not written, by the dramatist and compiler, John Mottley 
(1692-1750).='' It has a portrait of Milton, immediately under which, 
the sketch opens with the statement: "This Gentleman has rendered 
his name immortal by his Poem, called Paradise Lost, the finest Piece 

-^Life of Milton, (xlix-lv). He cited Edw. Phillips, Dryden, Addison. Atter- 
bury (To Pope, Nov. 8, 1717). Gildon, Voltaire, Lettrcs Critiques a Mr. tc Comte 
siir le Paradis Perdu & Recoiiquis, (Paris, 1731), Richardson, and Warburton 
(Div. Legation). 

=^This volume contained, besides the Memoirs, (i) An Examination of Mil- 
ton's Style ; (2) Explanatory & Critical Notes on divers Passages in Milton and 
Shakespeare, by the author; (3) Baptistes : a Sacred and Dramatic Poem, in 
defence of Liberty, as written in Latin by Mr. George Buchanan, and translated 
into English by Mr. John Milton, (4) The Parallel, or Archbishop Laud and 
Cardinal Wolsey Compared — a Vision by Milton; (5) The Legend of Sir Nicholas 
Throckmorton, Kn., who died of poison 1570; (6) Herod the Great, by the 
Editor; (7) The Resurrection, a poem in Imitation of Milton, by a Friend; and 
(8) A Discourse on the Harmony of the Spheres, by Milton, with Preface and 
Notes. In the same year (1740), Peck also published Memoirs of Oliver Cromwell. 

28Thos. Seccombe, D.N.B., "Peck." 

^^Dict. Natl. Biog. Both writers. 



128 THE MILTON TRADITION [220 

in the English Language." After some statements about Milton's polit- 
ical controversies, his international reputation, and his blindness, the 
writer added the prosaic statement, that "He wrote two dramatic 
pieces," which are merely named. 

The most considerable editor of Milton's poetry during the Eight- 
eenth Century, was the Rev. Thomas Newton, D.D. (1704-1782), who 
published his variorum edition of Paradise Lost, May 20, 1749. As an 
introduction to this edition, Newton compiled a new Life of Milton. 
The author began this Life with the statement that most of his mate- 
rials had come from the labours of the earlier biographers. But these 
materials were generally presented in a fresh manner, and often sup- 
plemented by valuable information from other sources. But it is possi- 
ble to refer clauses, and even whole sentences, to the different preceding 
Lives. Newton was a careful writer, condoning where he could not 
conscientiously praise the course pursued by Milton; and this work 
probably had a direct bearing upon the hostile re-action of Dr. Johnson 
against Milton in the Life of 1779. 

Newton's Life of Milton was very popular, having been usually 
included in the numerous editions of his variorum edition of Paradise 
Lost.^" In view of this editorial work, no elaborate criticism of the 
poems was to be expected in the introductory Life of the Poet. Newton 
did not agree with Milton's political and religious views, as appears 
from the following statement; but his conservative estimate of Milton 
in this connection was a tribute to his character and influence. After 
exalting Milton 's genius and learning, the biographer continued : 

"But his great parts and learning have scarcely gained more admirers, than 
his political principles have raised him enemies. And yet the darling passion of his 
soul was the love of liberty; this was his constant aim and end, however he might 
be mistaken in the means. He was indeed very zealous in what was called the 
good old cause, and with his spirit and resolution it is somewhat wonderful, that 
he never ventured his person in the civil war, but tho' he was not in arms, he was 
not unactive, and thought, I suppose, that he could be of more service to the 
cause by his pen than by his sword. He was a thorough republican, and in this 
he thought like a Greek or Roman, as he was very conversant with their writ- 
ings." (.xlv).^'^ 

^'"Newton's Life appeared as follows (Chap. \\., sect, i) : 



45 1749 




70 


1762 


S7 1754 




71 


1763 


63 1758 




74 


1765 


64 1759 




75 


1-66 


66 1760 




76 


1767 


"TAe Poetical 


Work 


■s. Jo 


hn E 



80 1770 

81 1770 




98 1778 

99 1778 


86 1773 

87 1773 
96 1777 

)ublin, 1773. 


Vol. 


107 1790 

125 1795 
Italian i; 
I. 



221] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 129 

"In matters of religion too he has given as great offense or even greater than 
by his political principles. But still let not the infidel glory : no such man was 
ever of that party. He had the advantage of a pious education, and ever expressed 
the profoundest reverence of the Deity in his words and actions, was both a 
Christian and a Protestant, and studied and admired the Holy Scriptures above 
all other books whatsoever ; and in all his writings he plainly showed a religious 
turn of mind, as well in verse as in prose, as well in his works of an earlier date, 
as in those of later composition, (xlvi). 

Newton regarded the Areopagitica as "perhaps the best viudieation, 
that has been published at any time or in any language, of that liberty 
which is the basis and support of all other liberties, the liberty of the 
press" (xvi). He commented favorably upon the recent adaptations 
of some of the poems by Handel, and praised the Minor Poems, in 
the words of Fenton, as sufficient to render Milton's name immortal 
(xvii). He devoted something like five pages to Paradise Lost, describ- 
ing it as "generally esteemed the noblest and most sublime of modern 
poems, and equal at least to the best of the ancients, the honor of this 
country, and the very envy and admiration of all others" (xxxvii). 

Newton laid some new emphasis upon the Miltonic interests up to 
the time of his own writing. But the matters indicated are now obvious 
to aU students of the period, and his work is of small value in this field. 
He also emphasized the interests of Milton 's Family, an emphasis closely 
connected with the mid-century interest in Milton's grand-daughter, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Foster. In this field of study, Newton was, as a rule, 
more definite and correct, than his predecessors had been. But even 
here he suffered one correction at the hands of the notorious William 
Lauder.^- 

With these multiplied biographical materials at command, Theo- 
philus Gibber (1703-1758) had no occasion for difficulty in compiling 
his account of Milton, for The Lives of the Poets (1753). Such a work 
would hardly be expected to present any strongly original features ; but 
this account has the interest of a very strong nationalistic spirit in the 
following praise of Paradise Lost: 

"The British Nation, which has produced the greatest men in every profession, 
before the appearance of Milton could not enter into any competition with antiquity, 
with regard to the sublime excellence of poetry — (The) ancients had still a poet 
in reserve superior to the rest, who stood unrivalled by all succeeding times, and 
in Epic poetry, which is justly esteemed the highest effort of genius. Homer had no 
rival. When Milton appeared, the pride of Greece was humbled, the competition 
became more equal, and since Paradise Lost is ours, it would, perhaps, be an 

30. .p g ,, j^ ^^^^ Essay on Milton's Imitation of the Moderns. L., 1749. 



130 THE MILTON TRADITION [222 

injury to our national fame to yield the palm to any state, whether ancient or 
modern-''^' 

The national pride in Milton was, at the mid-century, almost bound- 
less. His genius as a poet was the wonder of the Ages. His genius as 
a political writer was asserting itself against all prejudices. His pro- 
found conceptions of liberty were taking fast hold of men. His own 
integrity, his unselfish service even to the limit of extreme sacrifice, his 
high place in public life, his exalted conceptions of personal and na- 
tional liberty, and his genius in poetry, rendered tlie thought of Milton 
inseparable from the history, progress, and destiny of English political 
and literary life. David Hume, who felt little sympathy with the 
Puritan movement, in his History of England (1756), recognized Mil- 
ton's inherent greatness, destined to shine in the heaven of merit, when 
prejudice had once cleared away. Hume 's estimation is as follows : 

It is, however, remarkable that the greatest genius by far that slione out in 
England during this period, was deeply engaged with those fanatics, and even 
prostituted his pen in theological controversy, in factious disputes, and in justifying 
the most violent measures of the party. This was John Milton, whose poems are 
admirable, though liable to some objections, his prose writings disagreeable, though 
not altogether defective in genius. Nor are all his poems equal: his Paradise Lost, 
his Cottius, and a few others, shine out amidst some flat and insipid compositions. 
Even in the Paradise Lost, his capital performance, there are very long passages, 
amounting to near a third of the work, almost wholly destitute of harmony and 
elegance, nay, of all vigor of imagination. This natural inequality in Milton's 
genius was much increased by the inequalities in his subject; of whch some parts 
are of themselves the most lofty that can enter into human conception ; others 
would have required the most labored elegance of composition to support them. 
It is certain that this author, when in a happy mood, and employed on a noble 
subject, is the most wonderfully sublime of any poet in any language. Homer, and 
Lucretius, and Tasso not excepted. More concise than Homer, more simple than 
Tasso, more nervous than Lucretius, had he lived in a later age, and learned to 
polish some rudeness in his verses ; had he enjoyed better fortune, and possessed 
leisure to watch the returns of genius in himself; he had attained the pinnacle of 
perfection, and borne away the palm of epic poetry. 

It is well known that Milton never enjoyed in his lifetime the reputation 
which he deserved. His Paradise Lost was long neglected: prejudices against an 
apologist for the regicides, and against a work not wholly purged from the cant 
of former times, kept the ignorant world from perceiving the prodigious merit 
of that performance. Lord Sommers, by encouraging a good edition of it, about 
twenty years after the author's death, first brought it into request ; and Tonson, 
in his dedication of a smaller edition, speaks of it as a work just beginning to be 
known. Even during the prevalence of Milton's party, he seems never to have 

^^This account may have been only a step removed from Dr. Johnson. Most 
of these Lives were compiled by Robert Shields (d. 1753), who was then working 
on Johnson's Dictionary. 



223] THE BIOGR.\PHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 131 

been much regarded; and Whitlocke talks of one Milton, as he calls him, a blind 
man, who was employed in translating a treaty with Sweden into Latin. These 
forms of expression are amusing to posterity, who consider how obscure Whitlocke 
himself, though lord-keeper and ambassador, and indeed a man of great ability and 
merit, has become in comparison with Milton. 

It is not strange that Milton received no encouragement after the restoration: 
it is more to be admired that he escaped with his life. Many of the cavaliers 
blamed extremely that lenity towards him, which was so honorable in the king, 
and advantageous to posterity. It is said that he had saved Davenant's life during 
the protectorship; and Davenant in return afforded him like protection after the 
restoration; being sensible that men of letters ought always to regard their sym- 
pathy of taste as a more powerful band of union, than any difference of party or 
opinion as a source of animosity. It was during a state of poverty, blindness, dis- 
grace, danger, and old age, that Milton composed his wonderful poem, which not 
only surpassed all the performances of his contemporaries, but all the compositions 
which had flowed from his pen during the vigor of his age and the height of his 
prosperity. This circumstance is not the least remarkable of all those which 
attend that great genius. He died in 1674, aged sixty-six.^* 

This estimate of Milton was not, however, entirely satisfactory to 
the Milton enthusiasts of the Eighteenth Century. The Critical Review 
seems to have taken most delight in voicing the opposition. Hume was 
"the professed panegyrist of the Stewart family," and the Review dis- 
credited his ability to see the Revolution from the standpoint of sincerity 
on the part of Milton and Cromwell.^^ The Review had "a better 
opinion of Milton, ' ' than that given by Hume ;'*' and felt a special relish 
in the Observations on Mr. Hume's History of England, by J. Towers. 
This author asserted that Hume even studiously endeavoured to dimin- 
ish the reputation of the most celebrated English geniuses. He charged 
that it was Hume's custom to bestow praise, and then, "with great, 
dexterity, to throw out such insinuations, (and) so (to) magnify defects, 
real or imaginary, as almost wholly to overturn what he had said" in 
favour of his character under discussion. Milton was considered to be 
so treated in this passage of Hume's History.^'' But with inconsistency 
permissible only in a Review, this great oracle of praise and abuse, 
showed itself capable of greater severity against Milton, than Hume had 
ever felt, as will appear in the following narrowed bitterness : 

"Every body knows with what acrimony and rancour Milton wrote against 
the Character of Charles, and in defense of the most infamous of all mankind ; and 

'*David Hume (1711-1776). History of England, from the Invasion of Julius 
Caesar, to the Abdication of James II, 1688. N. Y., Harper's, 1850, vol. v. 529-530. 
35Cr. Rev., Feb., 1783, 5S:i5Sn. 
36Cr. Rev., Dec, 1756, 2 :38s-404. 
3'Cr. Rev., April, 1778, 45:289-292. 



132 THE MILTON TRADITION [224 

how industrious he was in picking up, and liardy in affirming for truth, every low 
insinuation which malice could invent, or prejudice believe. Those are stains in the 
moral character of Milton, which all the splendour of his intellectual merit will 
never brighten. It is the peculiar misfortune of the Stuart family, that two of 
the greatest geniuses, which the island has produced, happened interested in the 
cause of their enemies. These were Buchanan and Milton, two men, 
not more celebrated for their talents, than remarkable for the bitterness and 
asperity of their resentment. Buchanan assisted the bastard Murray in traducing 
and betraying his sovereign and benefactress. Milton insulted the ashes of his 
murdered king with calumny and reproach ; and, with all his professed attachment 
to the natural rights of mankind, acted as secretary to the usurper and tyrant 
Cromwell, who destroyed the liberties, and trampled upon the constitution, of 
his country.""* 

The occasion of this bitterness against Milton was the publication 
of An Historical and Critical Account of the Life and Writings of 
Charles I, King of Great Britain (1758), by William Harris (1720- 
1770), which was then under review. Harris considered "Milton a 
name at all times to be mentioned with honor," but felt that he had 
misrepresented Charles I as being leivd. The Monthly Review thought, 
however, that "it is no slight presumption of the unworthiness of the 
Stuart family, that Milton and Buchanan, the two greatest Geniuses of 
their ages, were their most violent enemies. "^^ 

The way in which Harris supported the cause of Miltonie interests 
was not so much in the matter of small encomiums, as in the larger 
conceptions of his work. He represented the school of historical and 
political thought that was opposed to that supported by Hume, the 
defender of the interests of the Stuart Kings. Harris had planned a 
series of Histories on James I (pub. 1753), Charles I (1758), Oliver 
Cromwell (1762), Charles II (1766), and James II (unwritten because 
of illness). The obvious purpose of the author was to compass the whole 
movement of national politics, from the rise of Puritanism under James 
I, to the triumph of the Whig Party in the Revolution of 1688. 

Little of this treatment was sympathetic with the royalty of that 
troublous period. Harris belonged to the group of influential writers, 
considered below in Chapter VI, who were insisting upon the merits of 
Milton's political views as a means of national reform and progress. 
Harris was himself a nonconformist tradesman. Hollis and Birch were 
his personal friends. They secured for him the "D.D." from the Uni- 
versity of Glasgow, and rendered him valuable service in his Histories. 
His historical method was that of M. Bayle, who drew "from original 
writings and State-Papers." This plan was adopted, according to the 

38Cr. Rev., April, 1758, 5:320-321. 
s9Mo. Rev., May, 1758, 18:452-461. 



225] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 133 

Critical Review in the reference already cited, in the case of Charles I, 
for the purpose of vilifying that unfortunate sovereign. The total effect 
of Harris's labours was the development of a semi-radical atmosphere, 
by a consecutive account of that eventful period, favourable to the 
advancement of the Miltonic influences.^" 

Another historian who did much, in the same general way, for the 
cause of Milton's political influence was Miss Catherine Macaulay, later 
Mrs. Graham, who wrote a History of England from the Accession of 
the Stuarts, that was, in general, as little sjonpathetic as those by Har- 
ris. She had a passion for liberty, which was begotten and nourished 
by the ancient sources of political wisdom that inspired the mind of the 
great Miltou. In the introduction to the first volume of her History 
(1763), she said: 

"From my early youth, I have read with delight those histories, that exhibit 
liberty in its most exalted state, the annals of the Roman and Greek republics. . . . 
Liberty became the object of a secondary worship in my delighted imagination." 

Under this inspiration, she became a recognized champion of lib- 
erty. Like Carlyle, and most other dreamers of better things in the 
political world. Miss Macaulay used the selective method in treating 
history, utilizing historical materials very largely to illustrate and en- 
force her own convictions. The field chosen for the work now considered 
furnished large scope for such selection, and she entered upon the work 
with characteristic enthusiasm. One can feel a conscious antipathy to 
the work of Hume, when she says that she writes "to do justice to the 
memory of our illustrious ancestors, still having an eye to public lib- 
erty." She spoke of "party" as "that hell of liberty," and stood firm 
for the limitation of royal power. "Whosoever attempts," she affirmed, 
"to remove the limitations necessary to render monarchy consistent 
with libert.y, are rebels in the worst sense; rebels to the laws of their 
country, the law of nature, the law of reason, and the law of God." 
She hated Cromwell, as a usurping tyrant, but honored Milton, as one 
of the greatest champions of liberty, and fondly dreamed upon his 
devotions and sacrifices in that greatest of causes.''^ 

In 1777 John Bell (1745-1831) considered Milton "too well known 
to need a Life" in the British Theatre ^^ But the customary way of 
subduing the harsher elements of Milton's public and private life, 
together with overmuch praise of him as the champion of English lib- 

^''Harris's Histories were popular. .All of them were reprinted in 1772, and his 
works were collected in 1814. 

*iFor her feeling toward Milton, see Appendix C. Her influence for liberty 
must have been considerable, if one may judge from contemporary interests in her 
views. Cr. Rev., 1763, 16:321-330; and .\pril, 1790, 69:386. Mo. Rev., Nov., 1763, 
29:372-382; May, 1769. 40:355- 

*^Britisli Theatre, ed., 1779, I, iv-v. 



134 THE MILTON TRADITION [226 

erty, had led Dr. Johnson to feel that a good solid Tory Life of Milton 
was much in demand. Johnson seems to have felt very early the power- 
ful bearings of Milton "s influence upon public life and was never wholly 
sympathetic. On the contrary, in 1749, he joined hands, to the regret 
of all his admirers, with Lauder's attack upon "The blind worshipers" 
of that eminent poet.^* Since that time, the growth of democracy, lib- 
eralism in religion, and the Eomantic tendencies in literature, had 
exasperated the Doctor against the adoration of Milton. Perceiving 
that Milton's influence was central to the new and powerful "move- 
ment," Dr. Johnson threw himself across the current of that movement, 
in an unsympathetic Life of Milton (1779), which appealed to almost 
every possible source of prejudice against the poet-politician.^^ 

Johnson showed himself familiar with all that had been said about 
Milton; and the Life moves with a stately flow of ideas indicative of 
mastery. The biographer succeeded also in marshaling his materials 
directly upon his desired goal of writing Milton down. Looked at in 
broken segments, the life of Milton is at times open to adverse criticism. 
His integrity stands unshaken, more perhaps than that of any other 
man, only in the full circle of his career and message to the world. Of 
this fact Dr. Johnson undoubtedly took no small advantage. With an 
air of candour and fidelity, he seems to have studied the possibilities 
for prejudice against Milton, and to have left unused no opportunity 
for suggestions and insinuations that reflected upon the character of the 
man. Evidently the biographer's intention was to counteract the influ- 
ence of Milton by contradicting, wherever possible, the accepted estima- 
tion of the man and his works. 

Upon Milton as the author of Paradise Lost Johnson bestowed judi- 
cious praise. That poem he would not have written other than in blank 
verse. With patriotic pride that overrides all prejudice, the Doctor 
speaks of the poem in these words: 

"Chapter vi, p. 190. 

<=Johnson's Life of Milton, with all its Tory bitterness, then regarded an out- 
rage upon the poet, is today the best known of all the Lives of Milton written dur- 
ing the Eighteenth Century. This Life has been published thus: 



1779 A98 UEitg. Poets). 




1793 


Lives, 4 vols. 


1781 Lives, 4 vols. 




1796 


Works, 12 vols. 


1783 Lives, 4 vols. 




1-96 


A 125 (Parson). 


1787 IVorks (Hawkins) 




1797 


Abridged edition. 


1790 A 106 (B„g. Poets). 




1800 


Lives, 4 vols. 


1790 Lives, 6 vols. 




1801 


Lives, 3 vols. 


1790-1 Lives, 4 vols. 




1801 


Works, 


In the nineteenth century— 1804-6, 


1806, 18 


10, 1816, 1 


[818, 1819, 1825. 1826, 


1847. I8.S4, i8S4. 1858, 1864-5, 1868, 18; 


^8, 1886, 


1888, 1905 





227] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 135 

"I am now to examine Paradise Lost, a poem which, considered witii respect 
to design, may claim the first place, and with respect to performance the second, 
among the productions of the human mind (170). . . . The moral of other poems 
is incidental and consequent; in Milton's only it is essential and intrensick. His 
purpose was the most useful and most arduous: 'to vindicate the ways of God to 
man'; to shew the reasonableness of religion, and the necessity of obedience to the 
Divine Law {Life of Milton, Hill, vol. I, p. 171). 

"In this part of his work (the Fable) Milton must be confessed to have 
equalled every other poet. He has involved in his account of the Fall of Man 
the events which preceded, and those that were to follow it : he has interwoven the 
whole system of theology with such propriety that every part appears to be neces- 
sary, and scarcely any recital is wished shorter for the sake of quickening the 
progress of the main action" (171). 

Johnson exalts Milton's subject as involving "the fate of worlds" ; and his 
persons as clothed with a "greatness" before which "all other greatness shrinks 
away." "The weakest of his agents are the highest and noblest of human beings. . . . 
Of the other agents in the poem the chief are such as it is irreverence to name on 
slight occasions. The rest were lower powers . . . .which only the controul of 
Omnipotence restrained from laying creation waste, and filling the vast expanse of 
space with ruin and confusion. To display the motives and actions of beings thus 
superiour, so far as human reason can examine them or human imagination 
represent them, is the task which this mighty poet has undertaken and per- 
formed" (172). 

The questions of character, probability, supernatural machinery, episodes, and 
integrity of design, Johnson disposed of very briefly, as either involved in the 
nature of the subject or else fully meeting the Aristotelian requirements (172-s). 
The sentiments, too, were found "for the greater part unexceptionably just" (176). 
In Milton every line breathes sanctity of thought and purity of manners, except 
when the train of the narration requires the introduction of the rebellious spirits; 
and even they are compelled to acknowledge their subjection to God in such a man- 
ner as excites "reverence and confirms piety" (179). 

Johnson recognizes some "defects and faults" in Paradise Lost, but refused 
to make long citations ; "for what Englishman", said he, "can take delight in 
transcribing passages, which, if they lessen the reputation of Milton, diminish in 
some degree the honour of our country?" (181). After some censures, which are 
in themain just enough, the Criticism closes with this statement: "Such are the 
faults of that wonderful performance Paradise Lost; which he who can put in 
balance with its beauties must be considered not as nice but as dull, as less to be 
censured for want of candour than pitied for want of sensibility." (188). 

But otherwise the Poet fared not so well in these Tory hands. 
Johnson denied to Milton any serious concern in liberty for others than 
himself.** Eef erring to Milton's spirit of controversy, the biographer 

^Vohnsou's Lives of the English Poets: Milton (i779)- Edited by G. B. Hill, 
vol. I, (paragraphs) 36 and 170. 



136 THE MILTON TRADITION [228 

said, "Sueli is his malignity 'that hell grows darker at his frown.' "*' 
Johnson considered Milton as a slave to Cromwell, "his services and 
his flatteries (sold) to a tyrant. "^'' He regarded Milton's theology as 
mainly negative, played heavily upon the dangers of being "of no 
church," and severely assailed Milton's religious life.*^ "His political 
notions were those of an acrimonious and surly republican." "Milton's 
republicanism was, I am afraid, founded in an envious hatred of great- 
ness, and a sullen desire of independence. ' '■'" In the worst light possible 
the author represented Milton the politician and man of affairs. 

For the poetry, other than Paradise Lost, Johnson had small praise. 
Conius was considered the best of the early poems, but a dramatic 
failure for want of probability. In reading the Companion Poems 
Johnson admitted a general pleasure, and allowed them to be "two 
noble efforts of the imagination". But beyond these notes of praise 
he found little to commend. 

Outside of Paradise Lost Johnson denied to Milton the rank usually 
attributed to him. Except in the case of Comus, the biogi-apher denied 
that the Minor Poems furnish any definite promise of the future excel- 
lence of Paradise Lost, though he had felt a forecast of the Epics in the 
Prose Writings. Wliile granting to the earlier poetry the evidence of 
genius, in "that they have a cast original and unborrowed," he denied 
that their peeuliaritj^ was excellence: "if they differ from the verses of 
others, they differ for the worse ; for they are too often distinguished 
for repulsive harshness." He denied to the whole group of Minor 
Poems any independent vitality, and thought their popularity due to 
the reputation and influence of the Major Poems. He even carried his 
contradictions to the extreme of selecting Lycidas, which most other 
biographers had specially praised, as the special object of his bitterest 
condemnation. 

Even Johnson himself must have been surprised at the results of 
this biographical and critical venture. His madness, so full of Tory 
method, served only to bring the wrath of the Milton-loving English 
people upon his own head. Under this general re-action may be siun- 
marized what remains that was distinctive in the biographical interests 
of the century. 

Four years after Johnson's abuse of Milton, Dr. Robert Anderson 
(1750-1830) published the fifth volume of The Works of the British 
Poets, which contains the Poetical Works of Milton, with an introduc- 
tory Life, by the editor. The Life was written in a spirit of sympathy 

*~Ibid., so. 
«/6iV., 173- 
"/birf., 165-16;. 
'-"Ibid., 168-169. 



229] THE BIOGKAPHICAL TREATMENT OF MILTON 137 

with Miltou. Dr. Anderson displayed both a keen sense of poetical 
values, and a just sense of historical facts. The work was justly praised 
by contemporary criticism,"'' and was doubtless felt to be a defence of 
Miltou from the aspersions of Dr. Johnson. ■''- 

The defence of Milton was very seriously undertaken, in a con- 
structive manner, by William Hayley (1745-1820), in his Life of Milton, 
written for the great Cowper-Hayley Edition of Milton's Poetical 
Works, printed by Boydell and Nichol, in 1794. This Life was justly 
popular, both for its intrinsic merits, and its excellent justification of 
Milton from the strictures and abuses of Dr. Johnson.^^ The place that 
this Life occupied in the thought of the time, may very well be suggested 
by the following notice of the work in the Monthly Review: 

"Though the memory of few authors has received the homage of more 
biographical tributes than that of Milton, yet the public will probably think them- 
selves obliged to the spirited undertakers of the present splendid edition of his 
poetical Works, for having engaged a writer so justly esteemed as Mr. Hayley, to 
compose a new life of that 'immortal man.' who was the glory of his age and 
country. 

"According to Mr. Hayley's own declaration, his chief purpose (is) to give 
such a delineation of Milton's life as might 'rather make him more beloved than 
more admired ;' and to exhibit him as no less 'a model of superior virtue.' than as 
an example of unrivalled genius.' 

"After all, is it necessary that the serious, the learned, the lofty, the sublime 
Milton, the severe disciplinarian, the zealous champion, — in fine, the writer of Para- 
dise Lost, should be the most amiable of mankind?" Milton was held to be 
"adorned witli every graceful endowment, highly and holily accomplished."'''' 

John Bell prefixed an outline sketch of Milton's life to Samson 
Agonistes, in the British Theatre (vol. 34, 1796). Three years later, the 
Rev. John Evans (1767-1827) published a sketch of the Life and Writ- 
ings of John Milton, with an edition of Paradise Lost (1799). The 
period closed with the Life of Milton, more learned and comprehensive 
than any that had gone before, prepared by the Rev. Henry J. Todd, 
for his variorum edition of Milton's Poetical Works (1801). 

One scarcely feels like closing the account of Milton's Life with- 

^'Cr. Rev., Jan., 1799, n.s. 2:40-50. 

°M Volume of Letters from Dr. Bcrkenhout to his Son at the University 
(1790), has short biographical Sketches of Bacon, Milton, Newton, and Locke, 
designed to show that, in spite of wasteful methods, still one may acquire much 
learning at Oxford and Cambridge. Cr. Rev., July, 1791, n.s. 2: 323-329. 

^^The Life of Milton, by Hayley, was printed with The Poetical Works (1794) ; 
with the Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise Lost, London, 1796, Dublin, 1797, 
Basil, 1799; and with Adam: a Sacred Drama (1810). 

^<Mo. Rev., Feb., 1795, 97(16) :i2i-i25. Cf. Mar., 1796, 100(19) :2S2-25S. Cr. 
Rev., May, 1795, n.s. 14:1-13. 



138 THE MILTON TRADITION [230 

out citing the following passages from John Aiken's Letters on Taste 
for Poetry (1798-99), which show that confidence was restored, and 
Milton triumphant: 

"It is not my purpose to go through an enumeration of the principal poets of 
different nations who have contributed to raise and purify the sentiments of man- 
kind; but it would' be unpardonable to pass in silence the first of the list, our 
immortal Milton. The unparalleled sublimity which distinguishes his conceptions on 
all topics, so peculiarly marks his moral and religious ideas, that if it be possible 
for verse to operate as a charm against all that is mean, groveling, and corrupt 
in our nature, his are the strains from which this benefit might be expected. Of 
his Paradise Lost, Dr. Johnson testifies that 'every line breathes sanctity of 
thought and purity of manners,' and though his Coiiius and Samson Agonistes 
are not well calculated for dramatic effect on the stage, yet in the closet, the 
first, by its lofty morality, and the second by its preceptive wisdom, are capable of 
affording instruction and pleasure in a supreme degree. A relish for the works 
of Milton is not only a test of sensibility to the more exquisite beauties of poetry; 
but a kind of measure of the exaltation of the mind in its moral and religious 
sentiments."55 

These biographies, as a rule, show more marks of enthusiasm than 
of scholarship, the obvious tendency being to repeat the more prominent 
outlines of the poet's life, with a filling of details that was usually 
determined by the temper of the biographer. The Lives were not with- 
out some evidence of research, and the total results of this kind were 
sufficient to make possible the exhaustive labours of Professor David 
Massou in the Nineteenth Century. The very personal element in these 
Lives was perhaps a better index to the Miltonic interests of the eight- 
eenth century than more scholarly labours might have been. 

These indexes into the mind and heart of the eighteenth century 
show a constantly growing sympathy with Milton. Old prejudices more 
and more passed away. Political animosities were gradually softened, 
except for party reasons among the Tories, on account of Milton's 



''^Letters of a Father to His Son (1798-991, vol. II. Letter v, 268-70. 

Aiken did not hesitate to expose Johnson's inconsistency in criticizing Milton 
and Watts. "It is properly observed by Dr. Johnson,"' said Aikin, "that Milton's 
excellence in these particulars was greatly owing to his familiar acquaintance with 
the Scriptures: and indeed the subjects of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained 
are so entirely scriptural, that he could not fail of imbibing their spirit as he 
wrote. How extraordinary, then, does it appear, that the above mentioned critic, 
whose veneration for the Hebrew writing can scarcely be questioned, should ex- 
press such an unqualified disapprobation of that alliance of poetry witli devotion 
which is so peculiarly their characteristic." 

Here he quoted Johnson's strictures on Watts' devotional poetry as "unsatis- 
factory," and pointed out the highly poetic and figurative character of the Old 
Testament Poetical Books. 



231] THE BIOGRAPHICAL TREATMENT OP MILTON 139 

influence. The man Milton emerged from political confusions and bio- 
graphical obscurity. The Poet rose into full splendour. Finally Milton 
was known, loved, and honored throughout the nation. 

The biographers of Milton tended at first to find the man in his 
prose writings, and Milton was therefore pre-eminently a politician and 
a controversalist. Later they found the man more especially in his 
verse. Then he was pre-eminently a poet, — the pride of England, and 
the envy of other nations. Finally his biographers found the fuU man 
in his prose and his poetry, a man with one great message, the champion 
of what he thought sublimely good for all nations and for all times. 
Then Milton was the poet-politician, who walked on the earth, but 
breathed a celestial atmosphere, who saw things in their eternal rela- 
tions, and spoke, with authority, to Man, of Man, and for Man. 

With complete unanimity Milton's biographers exalt Paradise Lost 
as the greatest achievement of his life. For almost half of the period 
under consideration, attention to the Minor Poems was largely directed 
toward their historical significance. They were mere facts in Milton's 
early life. Among the early poems, those that did receive a measure of 
special notice were Comus and Lycidas. This notice was always favour- 
able, until Dr. Johnson made these particular poems the special object 
of his bitterness. But one is made to feel that Johnson's attack upon 
Milton was a sort of bitter farewell, which hurt the Doctor's reputation 
more than it did that of Milton. 

On the side of mere historical facts, the Minor Poems tended to 
lose their distinction in view of the increasing volume of biographical 
content that was discovered in the Epics and Samson Agonistes. But 
this was compensated, in part at least, by the growing attempt to trace 
the poetical genius of Milton in those earlier stages of development. 
But his biographers came more and more to fuid the serious Milton, 
who was so much adored, in the sublime spiritual unity of his whole 
message of virtue and liberty, — which message, flashing, at times in the 
earlier poems, was worked out by Milton in the labours of the civil 
strife, and finally glorified by his poetical genius in his post-Restoration 
poetry. 

The Minor Poems did come to have considerable interest for bio- 
graphical criticism; but this rising interest must always be seen in its 
proper proportions. It is not always remembered, that where biogra- 
phers accord the praise of paragraphs and pages to the Minor Poems, 
they are at the same time writing whole commentaries on Paradise Lost 
and even on Paradise Regained. Such formal proportions of praise as 
those worked out by Richardson, Peck, Newton, and Johnson, must be 
duly observed if one would arrive at any just estimate of the relative 
values of the several poems in the minds of the biographers of Milton. 



CHAPTER V. 

Criticism op Milton. To 1730. Milton's Rank Established 

The geueral title of Criticism is given to this, and the succeeding 
chapters under this running title, because that is the dominant element 
in this new survey of the period under review. The term is used, how- 
ever, in its wider connotation, to include any form of individual or na- 
tional expression that tends to define the values of Milton. The sub-title 
of this chapter indicates the main thing accomplished by such criticism 
up to about the year 1730. This was tlie time when most of the concern 
for Milton was expended upon the question of his place and rank among 
the men of letters. 

During this earlier period the Minor Poetry of Milton scarcely 
formed a consideration in respect to his reputation. The Poems on 
Several Occasions were published in 1645, and again in 1673. Some of 
them were utilized by Robert Baron, in the Cyprian Academy (1649) ; 
and by Joshua Poole, in The English Parnassus (1657, 1677). They were 
known, and noticed to some extent in biography-' and criticisms; but 
they are conspicuous mainly for the want of attention they received 
during this period. 

Humphrey Moseley, printer of the 1645 edition, recognized the 
unusual merit of these poems, and commended them very highly in his 
"Preface To The Reader."- Previous to this edition, Camus had been 
"viewed with singular delight," and praised, by Sir Henry Wotton 
(1568-1639), for a "certain Doric delicacy in the songs and odes," in a 
Letter To Milton, which the young Poet took pride in having printed in 
this first edition of his poems.'' Lycidas had also been complimented as 

'See Chapter iv, on Biography. 

^Quoted with commendation, by Thos. Birch, in his Life of Milton (1738). 
Camp. Prose IVks. of Milton (173S), I, xxvi. See p. 126 above. 

'Milton had sent Wotton a copy of the Masque, and this Letter (April 13, 
1638) was the old friend's re-action to the poem. L. P. Smith, Life and Letters 
of Wotton, I, 220; II, 381. Thomas Warton criticised this Letter as not reaching 
"to the higher poetry of Comus," which he defined as the "graver and more majes- 
tic tones, the solemnity and variety of its peculiar vein of original invention." 
Milton's Poems, ed. 1791, p. iv, and 118-122. 
140 



233] CRITICISM OP MILTON 141 

it appeared to Wartoii/ in that it was placed last iii the original volume 
"In Memory of Edward King." But by the time Milton's Poems ap- 
peared in 1645, England was too seriously concerned with other mat- 
ters to give much attention to poetry. 

After the Restoration, the poems were not generally re-discovered. 
Milton's friends knew and mentioned them; but the edition of 1673 
created no perceptible stir even among Milton's admirers. About this 
time, or later, Waller, who found in Paradise Lost "some fancy and 
bold invention," but was "better pleased" with Lycidas, sent a copy of 
that poem to St. Evremond, who was then in England. St. Evremond 
read the poem with delight, and reported it "to be in the true spirit of 
pastoral poetry, the old Arcadian enthusiasm," and to be especially 
excellent in "the various and easy flow of its numbers . . . well adapted 
to the tender kind of imagery, tho' not expressive of the first strong 
impressions of grief. "^ 

Late in the century (1693) Dryden called attention to these Juve- 
nalia as a proof of Milton's inability to handle rhyme." Congreve, in 
The Mourning Muse of Alexis, 

Sung at Comus' feast; 
While, in a ring, the jolly rural throng 
Have sat and smiled to hear my cheerful song.' 

Toland exalted Comus and Lycidas, briefly but definitely, in his Life of 
Milton (1698) ; and Addison mentioned Comus, with favor, some years 
later. ^ 

Addison cited also Milton's description of Laughter, in L' Allegro, 
as ' ' finely ' ' drawn ; and a year later, in ' ' sweet retirement, " he " natu- 
rally fell into the repetition of some lines out of a poem of Milton's, 
which he entitles II Penseroso, the ideas of which were exquisitely suited 
to (his) present wanderings of thought."" Langbaine dared to indicate 
Dryden 's indebtedness to Samson Agonistes (1691),'" and Charles Gil- 

*Warton's Milton, p. 38. 

^Letters of M. De St. Evremond (1610-1703) and Mr. Waller (1606-1687). 
London, 17 10. Letters xxviii and xxix, pp. 98-107. See W. M. Daniels, St. Evre- 
mond on Engleterre, 1907. 

"Origin & Progress of Satire (1693). Essays (Ker), II, 29-30. 

^Wm. Congreve (1670-1729). Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 10:269-271. 

^Poenis by Allan Ramsay, 1731. II, 99. Gent. Mag., 8:152. 

^Spec. 249, Dec. 15, 1711 (Allegro, 11-40J ; 425, July 8, 1712 (Penseroso, 61-72, 
147-54). Warton's Milton, 1791, pp. ix-x. 

^oEssay on Dryden (From the Eng. Dra. Poets). J. E. Spingarn, Crit. Essays 
of the 17th Cent., Ill, 131. Half a century later it was felt that Dryden had made 
too free use of Samson in the Aureng-Zebe. Lloyd's St. Jas. Mag., Oct., 1762, 
I :i49-i52. 



142 THE MILTON TRADITION [234 

don found in it an excellent variety of numbers;" while Bishop Atter- 
bury, a friend of Pope, but an admirer of Milton and blank verse, felt 
that Samson was written "in the very spirit of the Ancients," and was 
"capable of being improved, with little trouble, into a perfect model 
and standard of tragic poetry," and, therefore, recommended Pope to 
"polish" the tragedy into this ideal form.^- 

As early as 1691, a writer in The Athenian Mercury attempted to 
decide the rank and relative merits of Milton and Waller. The former 
was pronounced "the fullest and loftiest;" the latter "the neatest and 
most correct Poet we ever had." This judgment of Milton was based 
mainly upon Paradise Lost, which was splendidly treated at some length. 
Samson was also exalted ; "and, to say nothing of his Paradise Regained, 
whereof he had only finished the most barren parts, in his Juvenile 
Poems, those on Mirth and Melancholy, an Elegy on his Friend that 
was drowned and especially a Fragment of the Passion, are incompara- 
ble."" Be.yond this estimate, there was no advance until that of Elijah 
Fenton, in his Life of Milton (1725). Fenton had recommended Lycidas 
and the Companion Poems for Dryden's Miscellany (1716). These, with 
Comus, he declared in the Life, were sufficient to insure Milton's im- 
mortality. 

The attitude toward Milton's Minor Poems was thus one of com- 
parative indifference. That toward his Prose Writings was positively 
detrimental, as a rule, to any sort of savory reputation. This earlier 
period covers the life-time of two generations, neither of wliich was 
ever reconciled to Milton's politics. The first of these generations, 
somewhat maliciously prolonging the old controversies which had called 
forth most of Milton 's Prose Works, read those works mainly for purposes 
of refutation. It was not enough that Milton's works should be burned ;" 
they must also be answered. One ma.y find, therefore, such publications 
as The Dignity of Kingship Asserted, in Reply to Milton's Common- 
wealth (1660) ;i= and The Freeholders Grand Inquest (1679), with its 
reflections concerning the Original of Government upon Mr. Milton 
against Salmasius. The chief characteristic of these, and similar pub- 

^^The Complete Art of Poetry, 171S, pp. 300-303. 

i^Francis Atterbury. The Bishop of Rochester To Pope. The IVks. of Pope 
(Elwin-Courthope), IX, p. 49. 

^^The Athenian Mercury (Jan. 16, 1691). Athenian Oracle (1702), 1:477. 

i^The Defence of the English People and Icon Basilike were burned in France 
(1651), and in England, by the common hangman, Aug. 13, 1660. 

i^By George Searle. For other such matters, see Clarendon's Letter to Gauden 
(March 13, 1666) ; and the Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury Concerning the 
Authorship of Icon Basilike. Todd, Life of Milton, p. 21 ; Johnson's Life of Cow- 
ley (Hill), I, 56. 



235] CRITICISM OP MILTON 143 

licatioiis, was personal and political malice. 

There were, of course, some who daretl to be friends with Milton, 
even in relation to his Prose. Andrew Marvell, whose friendship found 
many forms of expression, feeling perhaps that there was little else to 
defend at that time, undertook a spirited defence of Milton's scholar- 
ship, in a Reply to Parker.'" The change that came with the Revolu- 
tion (1688) made it possible for Phillips to publish Milton's Letters of 
State (1694), a privilege denied to Aylmer in 1674. While Phillips had 
a conciliatory introduction, yet he ventured to prophesy the future his- 
torical value of these Letters. Four years later the daring and liberal 
pen of John Toland commended the political writings of Milton in the 
Life of that author (1698). 

But the old attitude, as a rule, was dominant. The fathers with 
their feelings of personal animosity had passed away. But their chil- 
dren were still convinced that Milton had prostituted his great powers 
in those political and other controversial writings.^' An important 
example of this indiscriminate condemnation was evident in the words 
of Aaron Hill, at the very end of this earlier period (1730). He de- 
clared that he would venture to pick out his friends and enemies by 
setting them to read Milton and Cowley. He would "be afraid of his 
heart, who, in the fame and popularity of Milton, could lose sight of 
his malice and wickedness;" and he would not fear to throw open his 
breast to one, "who, in contempt of the fashion we are fallen into, of 
decrying the works of Cowley, could have the courage to declare himself 
charmed, by both the Muse and the Man."'^ 

All this political malice was a burden upon Milton's literary shoid- 
ders, — a burden too heavy even for him, had there not been some source 
of strength yet unmentioned. His literary treasures had otherwise, 
probably, been buried out of sight, to adorn in time, of course, the labors 
of modern research and criticism. But the saving power was present, 
as was implied in the last quotation. That power which carried Milton 
aloft in spite of all opposition was Paradise Lost, the immortal reposi- 
tory of all that Milton stood for in poetry, scholarship, politics, and 
religion. That poem proved to be Milton in irresistible form, the power 
that brought triumph to its author and to all else that he wrote. 

In 1667, Milton published "Paradise Lost, a Poem in Ten Books;" 
but the poem seems to have attracted at the first no special attention. 
The publisher had paid only a few pounds for the manuscript, and, 

"C. D. Cleveland, Coinpcndium of Eng. Lit.. 1S69, p. 286. C£. Phillips' Milton 
(1694), p. xxxviii. 

"Ci. Tributes, 21, 23, 32. 

i*Aaron Hill (1684-1750). To Mr. Richardson (June i, 1730). Rich. Corresp., 
I. 1-4. 



144 THE MILTON TRADITION [236 

perhaps, had felt for a time that the purchase was a bad bargain. The 
first edition was partitioned into as many as nine issues, it seems, and 
put on the market only as there was demand for the work. 

While the poem was gradually coming to be more widely read and 
freely discussed, the reputation of the work was largely in the liands 
of Milton's personal friends. Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713), a student 
and admirer of Milton, recorded half a century later that he had read 
this poem in the manuscript, and had made the suggestion which led to 
the Meriting of Paradise Regained,^^ which appeared with Samson Ago- 
nistes in 1671. The year that Paradise Lost was published, Dryden is 
said to have declared that "This man cuts us all out, and the ancients 
too." Richardson recorded that others admired the poem while it was 
still wet from the press."" But the first printed praise was that of Ed- 
ward Phillips, Milton's nephew, who, in exalting "the sublimity of the 
subject . . . the majesty of the style . . . the beauty of its images and 
descriptions," represented himself as voicing the sentiments of others 
quite capable of critical judgment.-^ Among those just critics, one may 
reckon the names of John Aubrey, who collected notes for an early Life 
of Milton ; of Dr. Paget, wlio may have written the earliest Life of Mil- 
ton ; and of Andrew Marvell, who, besides being interested in the biogra- 
phy of Milton, published, with Dr. Barrow, the exalting Commendatory 
Verses of the poem, in the edition of 1674.-- Milton himself had added 
the Arguments and the critical Preface on The Verse in 1668 ; and for 
this last authentic edition he revised certain parts of the poem, and re- 
divided it into twelve books. 

No great length of time had passed, however, before Milton seems to 
have been widely read, and echoes from Paradise Lost poured in from 
all sides. Besides the Tributes in another chapter, Thomas Otway, in 
his Epistle to Mr. Duke, about this time, alluded to the innocent garden- 
scenes in Eden.-' The Vision of Purgatory (1680) placed Milton in that 
dismal region, to be surer* l^ut the English Theophrastus represented 

^^Hist. of Thos. Ellwood, by his oimi Hand (C. G. Crump, igoo), p. 145. 

2»These stories are told by Richardson. Life (1/34), but some of them are 
discredited by Masson. 

=iEdw. Phillips (1630-1696). Phrasiuin Pocticariun Thcsarus. Quoted in the 
Lives of the PhiUil>ses (Godzvin), 1815, p. 145. In the Theatrum Poctaruiu (1675), 
by Phillips, Milton also received due notice. 

=-Chap. iv on Biography, and Tributes 7 and 8. Marvell was remembered for 
this early appreciation in 1720. See an Acct. of him, by Giles Jacob, An Hist. 
Acct. of our most celebrated Eng. Poets (1720), II, p. 98. Also Atterbury To Pope 
(Nov. 8, 1717). quoted by Birch, Life of Milton (1738), I, p. i. 

23Thos. Otway (1652- 1685). Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 8:295. 

2*Edw. Dowden, Milton in the i8th Century. Proc. Brit. Acad., 1907-S, pp. 
276, and 279. 



237] CRITICISM OP MILTON 145 

the aspiring wit as passing by Shakespeare, Jonson, and Dryden, to 
admire "the incomparable Milton," and "fondly endeavor to imitate 
his sublime." The transformations of Dryden 's poems, by Elkanali 
Settle in 1682,-= and by Matthew Prior in 1687,="^ both made use of 
Paradise Lost. The author of The Situation of Paradise Found Out 
(1683) cited "with taste and judgment several passages" from Paradise 
Lost (Bk. iv), and argiied that Milton consulted the Fathers in this 
description of Eden." Already in 1679, Samuel Woodford (1636-1700) 
had recognized the immortality inherent in this poem, which "shall live 
as long as there are men left in our English world to read it."-^ In 
1680, the anonymous translator of Jacob Catsius' Self -Conflict placed 
Milton by the side of Cowley,"^ and eleven years later Milton stood on 
the exalted plane of excellence with the "perfect" Mr. Waller.^" 

Meantime English politics were taking a turn that was destined to 
affect the standing of Paradise Lost. The substantial spirit of the Eng- 
lish people could endure only about so long the Frenchified Toryism of 
the Restoration. This period of endurance was greatly abridged by 
the element of national religion involved in the position of the restored 
King. The re-aetionary forces gathered gradually under Charles II, 
and reached the point of Revolution when James II tried openly to foist 
the Roman Catholic Faith upon the English Nation. By this juncture 
of affairs the balance of power had swung around to the Whig Party, 
who had espoused the cause of Milton's reputation. One result of this 
movement was the massive folio edition of Paradise Lost in 1688, which, 
with its five hundred honorable names appended, amounted virtually to 
a national recognition. 

But a still greater result was the changed attitude toward the whole 
question of Milton's exaltation. The Revolution brought William III 
to the throne, who did not care to persecute the Puritans. Indeed, the 
old fury of the early Restoration was beginning to be spent ; and court 
favor could no longer be purchased, by abusing the party opposed to 
the King. Rapidly things had changed ; and one might, after 1688, 
praise Milton with assurance of at least a semi-national sympathy re- 
specting the exaltation of Paradise Lost. Men were then privileged to 

-^Absalom Senior: or, Achitophel Transposed (1682), pp. 2-3. 

-^The Hmd and the Panther, Transvers'd to the Story of the Country Mouse 
and the City Mouse. Aldine Ed., II, p. 332. Cf. also The Female Advocate (1687) 
for like familiarity. 

-'Henry Hare (1636-1708). Todd's Life of Milton (1826), p. 200, 

-^Preface to Paraphrase upon the Canticles (1679). 

^'Todd's Life of Milton (1826), p. 199. This translator argued that the "gold" 
of the work should not "be rejected because not sung by a Cowley or a Milton." 

■■""See note 13 above. 



146 THE MILTON TRADITION [238 

speak freely what many had felt, and some had already asserted, re- 
specting the rank of this great English Poet. 

Obviously enough, however, the fixing of literary rank is the work 
of criticism, formal or cumulative. Even a Milton must pass through 
the fires before the pure gold is perfectly evident. For immediate popu- 
larity, Paradise Lost had the misfortune to fall on evil days, to be born 
out of season. The critical standards of the Restoration had been im- 
ported bodily from the French Classicism of that time. These standards 
purported to make and judge all literature by the rules deduced, in the 
main by Horace, from the standard writings of the Ancients. Unavoid- 
ably, the tendency was toward formality, regularity, and rationalism in 
general. But Milton, in Paradise Lost, leaped the limitations of these 
intermediate rules, and foiuid no small part of his inspiration immedi- 
ately in the ancient Classics themselves. This fact was not realized at 
the time ; nor indeed is it quite certain that the standards of that time 
were sufficiently exalted to see and realize what Milton had done. The 
result was that Paradise Lost was first measured by the rules in vogue 
at the time of its publication. 

Nor was tliis measurement very seriously undertaken, as a rule. 
More often the poem was condemned unheard, as lying without the rank 
of literature, and therefore deserving no rank at all. The attitude, in- 
spired more or less by political bias, led the French Embassador, Comte 
de Cominges, to inform Louis XIV, that the only living author of repu- 
tation in England was "wn nomme Miltouus, an infamous person, whose 
writings would not be to the taste of the king."" Perhaps little more 
literary was the feeling that prompted the classical Rymer (1678) to 
speak of ' ' that Paradise Lost of Milton 's which some are pleased to eaU 
a poem."^- Certainly it was political bias that led Winstanley (1687) 
to deny to Milton any rank at all ; and this feeling may have influenced 
Sir William Temple (1628-1699), who failed to mention Milton among 
the heroic poets of modern times. ^'^ 

But rank Milton was destined to have, in spite of French Neo- 
classical rules. Among the first to recognize this fact was the poet John 
Dryden, the greatest genius of the French school. Dryden saw at once 
in Paradise Lost the unmistakable evidence of a great poetic genius. 
But Dryden seems never to have been able to define critically the posi- 

■■"Leslie Stephen, Hobbes, p. 58. 

32Thomas Rymer (1639-1713), Tragedies of the Last Age (1678). J. E. Spin- 
garn, Crit. Essays of the 17th Century, II, 208. 

^^The Works (1680), ed. J. Sivift, 1720, I, p. 245. After Ariosto, Tasso, and 
Spenser, he knew "none of the moderns that have made any atchievement in 
Heroick Poetry worth recording." 



239] CRITICISM OF MILTON 147 

tion that Paradise Lost should occupy in the ranks of literature.''* Dry- 
den attempted to regularize the poem by turning it into heroic couplets, 
and certainly must have felt the feebleness of his effort at improvement. 
Paradise Lost was not created according to the rules ; nor indeed was it 
subject to them. This fact pressed itself upon Dryden's consciousness, 
though he was never just at ease as to what conclusion should follow. 

In general, Dryden recognized Milton as a great genius; and did 
not hesitate to say so upon occasion. "Dryden," according to one 
eighteenth century writer, "unfolded first the beauties and power of 
Milton, who raised England's glory to the top in respect of sublime 
poetry.'"*^ Very early Dryden cited "Homer, Virgil, Tasso, or Milton's 
Paradise, ' ' as authority for good epic usage, and spoke of ' ' Homer, Divine 
Virgil, and Milton" in the same manner.^'^ He did not believe that 
Horace, "had he now lived, would have taxed Milton, as our false critics 
have presumed to do, for his choice of a supernatural argument."" 
Dryden found "flats" in MUton,^* disapproved his blank verse,^" cen- 
sured certain aspects of his diction," and even discredited the truly 
heroic character of his subject." But above all this, Dryden applauded 
the majesty of Milton, admired "the heights of his invention, and the 
strength of his expression, ' '*- pronounced ' ' Spenser and Milton nearest, 
in English, to Virgil and Horace in Latin, "''^ and dared "not condemn 
so great a genius as Milton."" He said, "It is as much commendation 
as a man can bear, to own him excellent ; all beyond it is idolatry. ' '*^ 

Such criticism of Paradise Lost could not but be effective in estab- 
lishing the rank of Milton. The national re-action was one of confidence. 
Sir Thomas Pope Blount (1649-1697), in his Remarks upon Poetry 

^*Mt. Havens gave the following list of Dryden's principal discussions of 
Milton {Englische Studien, 1909, 40:193). He used the Scott-Saintsbury edition. 

(i) State of Innocence and Fall of Man (1677), Preface, v. 111-112, 1 16-124. 
(2) Preface to the Second Miscellany (1685J, xii, 300-301. (3) Dedication of the 
Aeneis (1697), xiv, 143-14S. 201-2, 214-15. (4) Epigram (1688). xi, 162. (S) 
Origin & Progress of Satire (1693), xiii, 15, 17, 18, 30, 38, 39, "5-8. (6) Preface 
to Fables (1700), xi, 209. 

3=Edw. Watkinson, Nature & Tendency of Criticism. Cr. Rev., June, 1763, 
l6:i-S. 

^^Apology for Heroic Poetry (1677). Essays (Ker), I, 182, 189-190. 

"Same, I, p. i. 

^^Origin . . . Satire. Essays (Ker), H, 29. Cf. II, 268. 

'"Same, II, pp. 29-30. 

*oPreface to Sylvia (1685). Essays (Ker), IT, 268. 

*^Origin . . . Satire. 

■•-Same as 40. 

*^Dedication of Aeneis. Essays (Ker), II, 223. 

**Same, II, 212. 

*'Same as 40. 



148 THE MILTON TRADITION [240 

(Characters and Censures) (1694), devoted a brief but formal section 
to "John Milton." In this the author summed up, with assurance, the 
situation of Milton, "whose natural Parts did deservedly give him a 
place amongst the principal of our English Poets." This dictum was 
based upon the two Epics and Samson.*'^ Charles Leslie (1630-1722) 
felt obliged to discuss at some length Paradise Lost, in the "Preface" 
to his own History of Sin and Heresy (1698), which deals in part with 
the same subject.^' But no one was quicker to perceive the practical 
side of this growing confidence in Milton, than the printer Jacob Ton- 
son. Accordingly, Tonson employed Patrick Hume to prepare an anno- 
tated edition of Paradise Lost to supply the new demand. This edition, 
with "copious and learned Notes, or Commentary by P. H., with a table 
of the most remarkable parts of the poem, under the heads of Descrip- 
tions, Similes, and Speeches," "was published in 169.5. This was the 
"first attempt to illustrate an English classic by copious and continued 
notes," and in this work Hume left a monument to himself as "the 
father of comparative criticism."** 

By the last decade of the century the forces of general moral reform 
were beginning to be felt. This agitation affected literature, and served 
to exalt Paradise Lost as it had never been exalted up to that time. 
The leader of this movement for reform in literature, who most ardently 
espoused the cause of Milton, was John Dennis (1657-1734). Under 
him, and his associates in critical theory. Paradise Lost began to estab- 
lish itself in relation to some of the literary problems of all time. 

The need of this general reform was felt on all sides. The re-action 
from the restraints of Puritanism had sunk the nation to a low moral 
level. With this moral decay. Literature in general had declined. The 
stage in particular was very bad, even unendurable as it appeared to 
some of the writers on reform.*" 

Into the midst of this movement Dennis threw liimself with full 
force. His well digested theory of literary reform was fundamentally 
at variance with most of the views that were then accepted. The very 
foundation of his poetic theory was the fundamental and inseparable 
union between poetry and religion. The pseudo-classical theory then in 

<''Ed. 1694. pp. 135-8. Blount added, parenthetically, a reference to Milton's 
"other works, both in Latin and English, by which his fame is sufficiently known 
to all the learned of Europe." 

"The History of Sin and Heresy, attempted from the First War that they 
raised in Heaven, through their Various Successes and Progress upon Earth, to 
the Final Victory over them, and their eternal Condemnation in Hell. Theol. Wks. 
(Oxf.),, i8s2, 7 vols., 7:437-5i3- 

♦s.Allibone, Diet, of Authors. "Hume." Blaclnvood's Mag., 4:658-662. 

*^The most considerable attack upon the stage was A Short I'iciv of the 
Immorality and Prophancness of the Stage (l6gS). by Jeremy Collier (1650-1726). 



241] CRITICISM OP MILTON 149 

vogue claimed that literary excellence was attainable by rules. The 
general idea was to return to nature, as they of that school commonly 
argued. But by this maxim they meant nature methodized. The An- 
cients had followed nature at first hand, and had attained all that she 
had to contribute to literary excellence. Prom those ancient attain- 
ments the rules of excellence had been deduced. Now that these deduc- 
tions were made and accepted as authority, the problems of literary 
reform lay in the direction of closer conformity to these rules. The 
problem was, therefore, almost purely a rational problem. Such was 
the thought of the day. 

But Dennis thought otherwise. As it appeared to him, the inspira- 
tion and source of literature was vdtimately in the passions. The prob- 
lem of literary reform was, therefore, one of moral reform and religious 
exaltation. The confirmation of this theory he found satisfactorily set 
forth in the exalted character of Milton, and in his most exalted Paradise 
Lost. In both theory and practice, Dennis was an avowed disciple of 
Milton. 

But this theory of Dennis led him, in his arguments for reform, to 
exalt Paradise Lost from another point of view. His theory of the 
union of poetry and religion led him to exalt the Ancients above the 
Moderns, because the former found their superior inspiration in the 
vital forces of their religion. But those ancient religions were Pagan, 
and therefore false. The greater attainment Dennis believed possible 
to the poet who drew upon Christianity, which is Truth. As proof of 
what was possible in this better way, Dennis constantly held up Paradise 
Lost as a thing scarcely less than inspired from Heaven. From that 
exalted Source, Milton had attained a sublime excellence that was at- 
tainable in no other way. 

The critical work of Dennis has been so well treated by Dr. H. G. 
PauP" that extended discussion here would be superfluous. Strong 
sympathy with Milton, both in theory and practice, was inevitable. The 
discussions of Milton by Dennis would make a splendid volume, in 
quality as well as quantity; for the thought of Dennis toward Milton 
belongs more to the rising tides of Romanticism, than to the age of Pope 
and Swift. That age Dennis pronounced degenerate, and found the 
proof in the comparatively low appreciation of Paradise Lost. On the 
positive side of his criticism, there is one brief passage that seems to 
sum up his exalted attitude toward Milton : 

"He who is familiar witfi Homer, and intimate with Virgil requires 

something that is far above the Level of Modern authors, something that is great 
and wonderful. If I were to recommend a British Poet to one who had been 
habituated to Homer and Virgil, I would for the Honour of my country, and of 

'■•"John Dennis, His Life and Criticism. Columbia Dissertation, igio. 



150 THE MILTON TRADITION [242 

my own Judgment advise him to read Millou ; who very often equals both the 
Grecian and the Roman in their extraordinary QuaHties, and sometimes surpasses 
them, is more lofty, more terrible, more vehement, more astonishing, and has more 
impetuous and more divine Raptures. "^^ 

One of the most considerable satellites of Dennis was Charles Gildon 
(1665-1724). He had by no means the grasp of theory that Dennis 
had; but at heart Gildon was scarcely less an admirer of Milton. Like 
Dennis, Gildon cared little for rules, if only Paradise Lost yielded the 
fruits of literary enjoyment. Much of Gildon 's best criticism was in- 
spired by a desire to answer the objections made against Milton. 

As early as 1694, Gildon defended even Milton's "antient and con- 
sequently less intelligible words," and his style in general, as essential 
to his characterization. He justified the "servile creeping" lines' as 
fitting their content, exalted Milton's treatment of all the characters 
from the Deity to the Devil, and held the Paradise Lost a work for 
Milton alone, and for him only because of that inner illumination which 
came in consequence of his blindness. Gildon exalted the poem because 
of its pleasing effects upon the reader.^- In his Complete Art of Poetry 
(1718), Gildon claimed for Milton "no more than the second place" to 
Homer, and that England had no lack of national genius. He approved 
the spirit of Addison's Critique, and asserted that Milton "has equaled, 
if not excelled the Greek and Latin poets in many things.""^ In the 
second volume of this work, Gildon made fifty-nine quotations from 
Milton, representing almost as many pages, and all of them from the 
epics. In The Laws of Poetry (1721), Gildon replied to Dryden's charge 
of "flats" in Milton. "Homer," Gildon said, "sometimes nods; Virgil 

has not everywhere the same vivacity and force ; and Milton, 

for many lines together, is far from being so elevated and lofty 

But then all these three great poets shine out again in their o^vn exalted 
lustre. ' "•"' 

Meantime it became necessary for the neo-classical school to define 
its feeling toward Paradise Lost, for the poem was no longer to be 
ignored. Dryden's attitude had been one of uncertain admiration. But 
the next generation of classicists seems to have understood that Dryden 
thought of Paradise Lost as a great work of an irregular genius ; which, 

^^Reflections, Critical and Satirical, npoit a Late Rhapsody, called, An Essay 
Upon Criticism, By Mr. Dermis, p. i". 

^^To Mr. T. S. In Vindication of Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost. Miscellaneous 
Letters and Essays (1694), 41-44. Spingarn, Crit. Essays in 17th Cent., Ill, 198-200. 

^^The Complete Art of Poetry, I, pp. 108, 267-268, 269, ed. 1718. 

^*The Laws of Poetry (1721), p. 21. 

These last words of Gildon are much like those of Leonard Welsted. translator 
of Longinus on the Sublime (1712), who held it "undoubtedly true of Islilton, that 
no man ever had a genius so happily formed for the sublime." 



243] CRITICISM OP MILTON 151 

though admirable, could not attain first rank as literature. This cer- 
tainly became the crystallized attitude of the pseudo-classical school 
after Dryden, in all that they said about Milton's great Epic. Great, 
it was admitted. But it was not a heroic poem. It was not really an 
epic poem. It did not conform to the accepted rules and standards. 
Its rank, therefore, could not be the highest. Paradise Lost was to be 
regarded as an irregular production, scarcely subject to the accepted 
laws of literature. This important qualification seems to have pervaded 
all pseudo-classical thought of Milton. 

Milton was thus felt to be au irregular genius; but he was no less 
truly felt to be an uncommon genius. Moreover, Milton was an English 
genius; and even the classicists felt a national pride in this "great 
countryman, Milton." They, therefore, reveled frequently in the beau- 
ties of his isolated passages; they freely appropriated his thoughts and 
diction without acknowledgment; and they even discussed formally the 
measure of regularity to be found in his great poem. ' 

To this general class belonged Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729),' 
whose treatment of Milton seems never to have had adequate attention. 
Henry R. Montgomery, in his Memoirs of Steele, has this sentence: 
"In these casual notices and quotations, Steele was among the first to 
direct attention to Milton's merits, long prior to Addison's more elabo- 
rate critique. "'^^ During the years 1709 and 1710, Steele devoted at 
least twelve papers of the Tatler to Milton, all but one of which were 
concerned with Paradise LostJ"^ 

In the very first of these (No. 6), Steele compared Paradise Lost 
with Dryden 's State of Innocence, much to the disparagement of the 
latter. Steele had an aptness for incidentally introducing a 
into such circumstances as would throw a flood of new light upon 

'^2 vols., Edinburgh, 1865. II, 301. 
"Steele's Tatler Papers on Milton. 



No. 


Date. 


Para. Lost. 


References. 


6 


Apr. 23, 1709 




Aitken, Liie. &c. I, 55-56. 


32 


June 23, 1709 


8:588-614 


I, 263. 


40 


July 12, 1709 


S: 12- 13 


Br. Essayist, 1823. I, No. 40. 


so 


Aug. 4, 1709 


8:507-509 




79 


Oct. II, 1709 


4 750-768 


Aitken, II, 216. 


98 


Nov. 24, 1709 


{Comus, 366-85) 


II, 233-234. 


132 


Feb. II, 1710 


2:112 


" HI, 103. 


149 


Mar. 23, 1710 


8: 39- 54 


" III, 188. 


217 


Aug. 29, 1 7 10 


9:1187-89 


IV, 114-118. 


227 


Sept. 21, 1710 


4:358 ff. 


" IV, 166. 


237 


Oct. 14, 1710 


4 :797-8i9 


IV, 210-215. 


263 


Dec. 14, 1710 


5: 1-30 


" IV, 340-341 



152 THE HILTON TRADITION [244 

passage thus introduced. He was charmed with what one may call the 
social element in Paradise Lost, and happily showed how that poem 
entered familiarly into social life. For example, he represented (40) 
an evening party of women saying that Milton had said some of "the 
tenderest things ever heard" in the love-speeches of Adam and Eve. 
On another occasion, he represented a fan on which was painted Milton's 
picture of "our first parents in Paradise asleep in each other's arms" 
(6). He had Paradise Lost (iv, 750-768) quoted at a wedding, and 
thought the passage especially fitted for such an occasion (79). In 
almost all of his liberal quotations, Steele showed a special fondness for 
those moments of pose in the poem that would make good portraits. 
Every word of his treatment of Paradise Lost shows close study of the 
poem, careful visualization of its contents, and just appreciation of its 
literary values. 

After 1710, however, Steele seems to have written nothing on Mil- 
ton. The reason for this abrupt cessation is both evident and compli- 
mentary to the good judgment of his practical mind. During this year 
1710, Addison had been contributing a few papers to the Tatler which 
showed a liigher order of genius for this particular work than Steele 
had been able to command. Moved, therefore, first of all, perhaps, for 
the largest results in this field of public activity, Steele gave over into 
the hands of his greater contemporary and fellow-worker the privilege 
of representing Milton before the public. 

So great has been the reputation of Addison's Critique on Paradise 
Lost, that it has come to stand, in general thought, for Addison's con- 
tribution to the criticism of Milton. But this thought is far from the 
truth. Had Addison never written his Critique, still he would hold an 
important place among the early critics who helped to give Milton his 
rightful rank in literature. 

Addison's poetical tribute to Milton was published in 1694 (No. 21, 
p. 58), and showed some just appreciation of Milton's rank as a poet. 
Probably Addison's first formal contribution was the Discourse on An- 
cient and Modern Learning, which made a strong nationalistic appeal 
in behalf of Milton. The Discourse held that the circumstance of na- 
tional heroes made Homer and Virgil particularly charming to their 
own countrymen. "And here, by the way, our Milton has been more 
universally engaging in the choice of his Persons, than any other poet 
can possibly be. He has obliged all Mankind, and related the whole 
species to the two chief Actors in his Poem." This higher interest of 
Paradise Lost Addison supported by discussing at length the world- 
relations of Milton's characters.^' 

5'This Discourse was written early, but printed late. Mucli of it was worked 
over in other papers. Bohn ed., v. 214. Stli ed. Lend., 1739. 



245] 



CRITICISM OF MILTON 



153 



111 the Periodical Papers,"'' Addison rarely ever quoted Milton with- 
out an exalting compliment. If Addison contemplated the rewards of 
justice, his mind went at once to Milton's fine description of female 
virtue (102). If Death-Bed Scenes (114) suggested the community ele- 
ment ill pleasure as well as in sorrow, he found nothing "so inexpressi- 
bly charming" as Milton's representation of Eve "no further pleased 
with the beautiful objects around her, than as she sees them in company 
with Adam." The "variety of images in this passage" was to Addison 
"infinitely pleasing," a fact mentioned because Dryden had said, in 
his preface to Juvenal, that he could meet with no turn of words in 
Milton. But Addison was able to "show several passages in Milton that 
have as excellent turns of this nature as any of our English poets what- 
soever." In proof of this, he cited Book II, 557-561, which he affirmed 
to have "a kind of labyrinth in the very words that describe" the fallen 
angels debating predestination. 

Almost every turn of thought in Addison's mind seems to have 
found some illustration in Paradise Lost; and he had the ability to make 
others feel this vital connection between Milton and all that was most 
worth thinking about in life. While on a walk in the country, Addison 

5*Addison's Periodical Papers on Milton. 

Tatler Papers Paradise Lost References 



102 Dec. 3, 1709 
114 Dec. 31, 1709 

218 Aug. 30, 1710 
222 Sept. 9, 1710 
237 Oct. 14, 1710 
Spectator Papers 
12 Mar. 14, 1711 
89 June 12, 171 1 
Sept. 3, 1711 
Dee. 1,1711 
Dec. 15, 1711 
Dec. 31, 1711 
Jan. s-May 3 
May 31, 1712 
Jun. 2i-Jul. 3 
July 8, 1712 
Aug. 21, 1712 
Guardian Papers 

103 July 9, 1713 
138 Aug. 19, 1713 
Freeholder Papers 

32 Apr. 9, 1716 



8 :546-559 
6 :639-656 
2 :.=;57-56i 
9:446-451 
4 760-762 
4 797-819 

4 :675-688 
8:469-511 



4:148-156 



(Peiiseroso) 
4:996-1015 



I : 726-730 
5:331-343 



: 546-554 



Br. Essayists, 1S23. 3:No. 114. 



Aitken. 
Br. Es., 



:No.237. 



Introduction to Critique. 
Critique. 

Pleasures of Imagination. 

Lines 61-72, 147-154. 

Br. Es., 1823- io:No. 463. 



Br. Es., 1823- i5:No. 138. 



154 THE MILTON TRADITION [246 

"could not but reflect upon a beautiful simile of Milton (218)." In a 
quiet evening's diversion at home, this book was his choice of delights 
(237). He observed that the principle underlying ghost stories for 
children "Milton has finel.y described in this mixed communion of men 
and spirits in Paradise (12)." The melancholy aspects of eternal infe- 
licity he found well portrayed by Milton's master hand (Spec, 237). 
As for the delights of spring, none "have observed so well as Milton 
those secret overflowings of gladness which diffuse themselves through 
the mind of the beholder upon surveying the gay scenes of nature." In 
proof of this, Addison cited the passage where Milton "represents the 
devil himself as almost sensible to it (393)." The idea of weighing 
Wisdom and Riches assumed in Addison's mind the formal aspect of 
Milton's combat between the Arch-angel and the E\'il Spirit (463). 
City fireworks (103), as well as public courtesy (138), might be im- 
proved by attention to the excellencies of this wonderful book. Then, 
as if forgetting all thought connections, and being controlled by the idea 
of appreciation for its own sake, Addison would quote long irrelevant 
sections of Paradise Lost because he could not "forbear transcribing 
entire" such excellent materials (89). 

On the side of formal criticism, Addison's estimation of Milton was 
judicious. In the paper On Great Natural Geniuses (160), Addison 
placed Milton in the class of geniuses who "have formed themselves by 
rules, and submitted the greatness of their natural talents to the cor- 
rections and restraints of art." To this class belong Plato, Aristotle, 
Virgil, Tully, Milton, and Sir Francis Bacon. In the Essays on the 
Pleasures of the Imagination (paper vi), it was claimed that "Homer 
excelled in imagining what is great ; Virgil in imagining what is beauti- 
ful; Ovid in imagining what is new. Our own countryman, Milton, is 
very perfect in all these respects." Milton was held to be excellent in 
description, whether he portrayed the pleasant or the unpleasant, and 
effective in imaginative appeal, even through such emblematic persons 
as Sin and Death. Such was the active interest with which Addison 
supported the rank of IMilton before the English public in his own 
writings outside of the formal critique. 

The celebrated Critique is, however, Addison's great contribution 
to the criticism of Milton. In the introduction to these Remarks, Addi- 
son made three things very clear: (1) That he did not need to write 
Milton into public favor; (2) That the works of Milton had been of 
constant interest to Addison; and (3) That these Papers were to deal 
with a definite esthetic discussion of the Poem, supplementary to the 
work already done in this particular field of Miltonic criticism. Addi- 
son assumed the classical standard in these Remarks, drawing upon 



247] CRITICISM OF MILTON 155 

Aristotle, Horace, and Longiuus, for the orthodox theory of poetry/'" 
By these standards Addison measured the claims of Paradise Lost to 
classical recognition, discovered, in part, its beauties, excellencies, and 
defects, and thus gave the Nation a full semester's work in the definite 
classical art of Milton. These Remarks were collected into a separate 
volume in 1719, translated into French 1729, German 1740, Italian 1742, 
and became a standard work on Milton from their first appearance. The 
immense circulation of the Spectator in England"" literally flooded the 
Nation with the choicest passages of Milton, stamped with just valuation 
by the best classical authority of the times. For this sanction the public 
mind was fully ready, and the re-action was undoubtedly greater than 
is usually estimated. Tonsou had just supplied the public with Paradise 
Lost in convenient form; and the loyal-hearted English heard Addison 
gladly, and then searched their Milton daily whether those things were 
so. There is little wonder that this re-action became to later historians 
and critics the touch-stone of Milton's unparalleled popularity."^ 

There can be no doubt about the solid contribution which these 
Papers made to the clearly defined rank of Milton, as seen from the 
pseudo-classical standpoint. Addison did not discover Milton; but he 
did definitely set forth the nature of Milton's literary rank in terms 
of the dominant thought of the times. Henceforth Milton afforded, in 
spite of his irregularities, ample opportunity for a just national exalta- 
tion. The substantial re-action called not immediately for multiplied 
editions, but for a re-reading of Paradise Lost, and an enlarged appre- 
ciation of Milton along these authoritative lines of glorification. When 
the Nation had caught up with this review of the poem, editions poured 
from the press in multiplied abundance."- 

But the man, next to Tonson, who was keenest to utilize the imme- 
diate benefits of this renewed national exaltation of Milton was the 
classical Voltaire, who was then in England. He understood thoroughly 
the place that Milton now occupied in classical criticism and also in the 

•'■^Elton says that Aristotle, seen through the Traitc du Pociiic cf^iquc of 
Father Rcncc Bossu (1675), was the standard by which Dennis and .Addison "in- 
advertently" measured "the conformity of Milton to a just poetic." The Augustan 
Ages, pp. 143-4. 

^"Spec. No. 10. 60,000 copies when only a week old. 

^iSee Appendi.x D, for l8th century emphasis on this Critique. 

"-Editions — 1711, 1719, 1720, 1721, 1724, 1725, 1727 (two), 1730, 1731, 1732. 

Another expression of this re-action was Elegancies Taken Out of Para. Lost 
(1725). Another product was An Inde.v of the Principal Matters in Para. Lost, 
prepared by Thomas Tickell (1686-1740), a friend to Addison, who had conducted 
through the press Tonson's edition of 1720, in which the Critique was first printed 
with the poem. Warton's Milton, lygi, 608. 



156 THE MILTON TR.VDITION [248 

hearts of the English people. To ingratiate himself into national favor, 
this Frenchman needed only to write his Essay Upon the Epick Poetry 
of the European Nations, From Homer down to Milton, with its master- 
ful exaltation of Milton along the popular lines of praise. This Essay 
was written in English, printed in London (1727), and contained some 
of the highest commendation of Milton hitherto produced. 

If Jusserand (Eng. Essays, 196) is right in emphasizing the motive that pro- 
duced this Essay, as a desire for acquaintance and popularity, then J. C. Collins 
(Voltaire, &c. in England, 62-73) has made it plain that Voltaire was wise in the 
selection and treatment of his subject to that end; and the last writer, re-inforced 
by Morley {Voltaire, 86), has made it plain that Voltaire was willing to pay for 
his English popularity the labour necessary "not only to master and appreciate the 
secret of Milton's poetic power, but even to ascertain the minutest circumstance 
of his life." 

Mr. Collins says, "The critique on Paradise Lost, which is described as 'the 
noblest work which human imagination hath ever attempted,' gives us a higher 
idea of Voltaire's critical powers than any of his French writings. His vindication 
of Milton's poem against some of the objections urged against it so characteris- 
tically by the French critics, his remarks on Milton's conception and picture of 
the Deity, and on the grand unity of the work amid its endless variety, would 
indeed have done honour to Longinus." Collins cites, with hearty relish, Vol- 
taire's estimate of Milton's treatment of love as a virtue, which closes with the 
assurance, that Milton "soars not above human, but above corrupt nature ; and as 
there is no instance of such love, there is none of such poetry." 

Voltaire's Essay was received with great applause,"^ and did much 
for the rank and fame of Milton. Voltaire prided himself, indeed, upon 
having discovered Milton to the Continent of Europe. But this pride 
soon gave place to other feelings. 

"Voltaire had no sooner awakened an interest in Milton, than he arrived at 
the conclusion that an e.xcess of admiration for this foreign poet might endanger 
the good taste of Europe ; the piquancy of having discovered Milton gave place — 
as soon as others began to occupy themselves with his poetry — to repentance for 
the momentary back-sliding which had led him to forget his responsibilities as the 
guardian of literary taste and propriety. . . . Voltaire veered round at once ; he 
expunged as much of the praise as he reasonably could from his Essay on Epick 
Poetry before publishing it in France, and, from now on, his attacks on Milton 
were even more unscrupulous than his antagonism in later life to Shakespeare. 

63But Voltaire's studies in Milton's sources were not very cordially received. 
Voltaire assumed a heavy indebtedness of Milton to an Italian Tragedy by 
Adreino. This view was assailed by P. RoUi, the translator of Paradise Lost, in 
his Remarks upon Voltaire's Essay (London, 1728) ; and again by Giuseppe Ba- 
retti, in- A Dissertation Upon Italian Poetry (i~53)- The latter held Voltaire's 
view ridiculous. Baretti held also that Milton alone had equalled Dante, that he 
was acquainted with and probably indebted to the Italian poet. 



249] CRITICISM OF MILTON 157 

He ridiculed tlie English Poet in his Candide, and even parodied him in Puccltc."'''* 

In the meantime other classicists were concerning themselves in a 
less formal, but rather important, way. The poems of John Pomfret 
(1667-1703) show a pleasing familiarity with Paradise Lostf'^ and John 
Hughes alluded to the Poem as "a nobler song," in his Ode in Praise 
of Music (1703). Edward Bysshe in his Art of English Poetnj (1702), 
quoted forty-eight lines from Paradise Lost (Book iv) as "an example 
of blank verse" from "the most celebrated poem of this kind of verse." 
In this work Milton appeared, in libei'al quotations, on at least ninety 
different pages, and all from Paradise Lost except one or two citations 
from Samson Agonistes.'^'^ 

Budgell quoted Milton's Looking-glass passage, and suggested a 
probable moral application.'^^ The Lay Monastery emphasized the de- 
scriptive excellence of Paradise Lost as one source of its superior pleas- 
ure, and collected five descriptions of Morn as "drawn with exquisite 
beauty.""* John Gay was attracted by the same excellence, and strove 
to set before his "gentle reader" a "picture, or rather lively landscape 
of thy own country, just as thou mightest see, didst thou take a walk 
into the fields at the proper season : even as Maister Milton hath ele- 
gantly set forth the same. "'*'■' The Ladies Library (1714) quoted Otway, 
Milton and Dryden as among "the most polite writers of the age;"'" 
and Mandeville, discussing the benevolent designs of Nature (1714), 

"■•J. G. Robertson, Milton's Fame on the Continent. Proc. Brit. Acad., igoy-oS, 
p. 326. 

This shifting of Voltaire's attitude was analogous to that of the German 
classicist Gottsched. who first hailed Paradise Lost with pleasure, but turned 
violently against it when it was exalted as a standard of imaginative literature. 

"^Cf. To Delia, and On the Marriage of the Earl of A. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 
8:316, 323. His Poems were popular: eds. 1699?, 1702, 1710, loth ed. 1736, last 
1790. 

•'"Part I. pp. 35-36. 

Sometimes whole pages are quoted : again there are five citations on a page. 
The popularity of this work is important. It was published 1702, sed. 1714, 7ed. 
1724, Sed. 1737; besides which. Parts H and HI, where most of the quotations 
occur, were published as The British Parnassus 1714. 1718. There can be little 
doubt that this Handbook on Poetry was a means of exalting Milton, and a 
medium for transmitting his thought and diction into the poetry of the times. 

^''Spec., 325, March 13, 1712. 

88N0. 39, Feb. 12, 1713. Drake's Gleaner (1811). I, No. 7, pp. 50-51. 

^^To the Courteous Reader, with The Shepherd's Week, in Si.r Pastorals 
(1714). Chalmers, Eng. Pts., lo:444- Quoted P. L.. ix. 445-Si- 

'o"By A Lady." Published by R. Steele. Quoted with significant comment 
Milton's lines against woman ( x, 883-95), vol. I, 2-3. 



158 THE MILTON TRADITION [250 

cited Milton's description of the Lion in Eden as an authority on primi- 
tive conditions of equal value with MosesJ^ 

The classicists betrayed at times a consciousness of Milton's supe- 
riority to the products of their own school. "If Dryden nodded," said 
Sir Charles Sedley (1702), "so did Homer too; if Virgil is inimitable, 
Milton can't be read without wonder and delight.'"- Ten years later 
Parnell acknowledged this superiority, in An Explanatory Note on Alle- 
gory, addressed to Bolingbroke. Parnell said, "There have been poets 
amongst ourselves, such as Spencer and Milton, who have successfully 
ventured further (than pilfering imitation even of the Ancients). These 
instances may let us see that invention is not bounded by what has been 
done before: they may open our imaginations, and be one method of 
preserving us from writing without schemes.'"" Prior also magnified 
Milton's original genius, and justified his license with historical mate- 
rials, as used in "one of the sublimest pieces of invention that ever was 
yet produced."'* Pew men felt the superiority of Milton with more 
conviction than did Bishop Atterbury, whose classical tastes did not 
hinder him from rereading Paradise Lost with ' ' such new degrees .... 
of admiration and astonishment," as to "look upon the Sublimity of 
Homer, and the Majesty of Virgil with somewhat less reverence." He 
even challenged Pope to show, "with all his partiality," anything in 
Homer "equal to the Allegory of Sin and Death, either as to their great- 
ness and justness of the Invention, or the height and beauty of the 
colouring."'"' 

This last important quotation circulated in the highest circles of 
Neo-classicism. Pope did not undertake to answer the challenge, proba- 
bly because of his own obligations to Milton. These are glaring in most 
of Pope 's poems ; but a poet who held that mere polish of thought gave 
a deed of possession for all time, could scarcely be expected to advertise 
the sources of his rough materials. Yet even Pope, at times, acknow- 
ledged his indebtedness to the superior excellences of Paradise Lost. 

In his Preface to the Iliad (1720), Pope owned that there was a 
"living fire" in Milton and Shakespeare, comparable to that in the 
Ancients (p. 3) ; emphasized the advantage of "Graeeisms and old 

'iBernarde de Mandeville (1670-1733). The Fable of the Bees, ed. 1729, Part 
11, p. 269. Published 1714, 2ed. 1723, 5ed. 1729, ged. 1755. He quoted here Para. 
Lost, iv, 340-345. 

''-Preface to The Misc. Works. London, 1702. J. Nutt. 

''^Essay on the Different Styles of Poetry. Written 1712, pub. March, 1713. 
Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 9:413. 

'^Preface to Solomon on the Vanity of the World. Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 
10:206. Aldine Ed., II, 83. 

■'^Letter To Pope. Nov. 8, 1717. Birch, Life of Milton (1738), I, p. 1. 



251] CRITICISM OP MILTON 159 

words after the manner of Milton" (p. 10) ; and proposed to preserve the 
spirit of Homer by constant attention to Virgil among the Ancients, 
and Milton among the Moderns (p. 11). Long before this (1713) Pope 
had recommended the writer of an Epic to draw his Devils from Para- 
dise Lost, and to imitate the langaxage of MiltonJ" In his Postscript To 
The Odyssey (1726), Pope openly "allowed that there is a majesty and 
harmony in the Greek language, which greatly contribute to elevate and 
support the narration," and acknowledged that "some use has been 
made to this end of the style of Milton." In this Postscript Pope de- 
voted a section of more than five hundred words to the criticism of 
Milton, commended his style, and characterized his imitators as "not 
copies, but caricatures of their original."'' 

Recurring now to the original position of the pseudo-classical school, 
that Milton was irregular, and therefore fundamentally limited as to 
literary rank, one may discover a re-action along a new line that served 
to exalt Milton. This movement amounted in spirit to a sort of retalia- 
tion in criticism which exulted in the triumph of Paradise Lost. The 
new position of some of the Milton sympathizers seems to have resulted 
from the clash between Dennis and the pseudo-classical school of poets. 
The admirers of Milton could not bear to see him take second rank 
among the poets. When the classicists affirmed that Milton did not 
conform to the rules of highest excellence, his admirers afSrmed that 
Milton was not subject to the rules imposed. His Poem may not be 
heroic. It may not be epic. But it was a new kind, it was a divine 
poem. Having made this discovery, the devotees of Milton were pre- 
pared to exalt him even above Homer and Virgil. 

This conviction, often ill-formulated, pervades many encomiums of 
Milton. One can feel it in the Letter of Atterbury To Pope, already 
quoted. As early as 1693, Samuel Wesley (1662-1735), father of the 
famous John Wesley (1703-1791), declared Milton's Paradise Lost "an 
original, and indeed he seems rather above the common Rules of Epick 
than ignorant of them. It's I'm sure a very lovely poem, by whatever 
name it's called, and in it he has many thoughts and Images, greater 
than perhaps either Virgil or Homer.'"* The same sentiment pervaded 

'"^Receif't to Make an Epick Poem. Guardian 78, June 10, 1713. Brit. Essay- 
ists, 182s, xiv, No. 78. 

"It may be noticed here, that Swift, who shows little evident influence of 
Milton, in The Art of Sinking in Poetry, (1727), if he had a hand in that per- 
formance, treated Milton with a respect that was in keeping with the reverential 
attitude of the time. Works of J. Szvift (ed. IV. Scott), Edinburgh, 1S14, xiii, 
16-98. 

''^Life of Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. An Heroic Poem (1693). 
Englische Studien, 1909, 40:180. 



160 THE MILTON TRADITION [252 

Toland's Life; as when he described Milton's "divine and incomparable 
poems, which, equalling the most beautiful order and expression of any 
ancient or modern compositions, are infinitely above them all for sub- 
limity and invention." 

This idea of something new and different seems to appear in Fel- 
ton's popular Dissertation on Reading the Classics (1711), when he says 
of Milton, that "his style, his thoughts, his verse, are as superior to the 
generality of other poets, as his Subject." It was a rather common 
feeling that Milton's Paradise Lost did not belong to the common cate- 
gories of poetry, but stood apart and alone, "inimitably great." This 
view was formally defended by Gildon, when he took Addison to task 
for attempting to criticise a divine poem by the common laws of the 
Epic." That deep-rooted conviction of Milton's supremacy through the 
invention of a superior kind of poetry, so admirably expressed in the 
following words of Warburton, is not entirely unfelt even today : 

"Milton produced a third species of poetry : for just as Virgil rivalled Homer, 
so Milton emulated both. He found Homer possessed of the province of Morality, 
Virgil of Politics, and nothing left for him but that of Religion. This he seized 
as aspiring to share with them in the Government of the Poetic world ; and by 
means of the superior dignity of his subject, got to the Head of that Triumvirate, 
which took so many ages in forming. These are the species of the Epic poem ; 
for its largest province is human Action, which can be considered but in a moral, 
a political, or religious view ; and these the three great creators of them ; for each 
of these Poems was struck out at a heat, and came to perfection from its first 
Essay. Here then the grand scene is closed, and all further improvement of the 
Epic at an end."*" 

During this period one essential consideration respecting Milton's 
rank was the question of his versification. That the controversy at this 
point should be rather spirited, was inevitable. The Restoration con- 
troversy between rhyme and blank verse was already under way when 
Milton published his Epic. During the Commonwealth, the English 
refugees in Prance had learned to write heroic plays in heroic couplets. 
The consequent introduction of rhyme upon the English stage at the 
Restoration was contrary to the English dramatic traditions so well 
established during the Elizabethan period. Rhyme in tragedy was an 
innovation that called for reasonable justification. The great champion 
of the new mode was the enthusiastic young poet John Dryden. For 
want of an opposing champion of equal strength, the conflict was for a 
time a very one-sided affair. Dryden and his allies in the new school 
were obliged to attack old traditions more than present antagonists. 

''^The Laws of Poetry, 1721, p. 259. 

soWm. Warburton (1698-1779). The Divine Legation of Moses (i737-8)- 
The Works, edited by Richard Hurd. iSii, H, 95. 



253] CRITICISM OF MILTON 161 

In a spirit of condescension, they were attempting to show the superior 
excellence of the couplet over the unrefined liberties of the Elizabethan 
tragic versification. Unrhymed verse in other forms of poetry was felt 
to be a thing scarcely to be considered. 

But the balance of power was soon restored in favor of the old 
traditions, though it took a long time to regain all that had been lost. 
The advantage came in 1667, when Milton poui-ed into this unequal 
conflict 10,565 lines of one vast poem in blank verse. This poem, per- 
haps the greatest single product of modern poetic genius, was not a 
tragedy, but an epic. It was, therefore, not merely a defence of eon- 
tested ground, but an aggressive invasion of the territory of the oppos- 
ing forces. Paradise Lost lifted the controversy above the petty limi- 
tations of the heroic drama, and showed that the real issues involved 
were the vital and universal principles of poetry itself. 

Upon these fundamental principles of poetry, Milton himself made 
one authoritative pronouncement, which was to his mind final. This 
statement was made in The Verse, prefixed to the Paradise Lost in 
1668. In this Preface Milton asserted that "heroic verse without rime" 
was the real classic verse of Homer and Virgil; that "rime .... (was) 
no necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in longer 
works especially, but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off 
wretched matter and lame metre;" and that the modem custom of 
rhyming had led to inferior poetic expression. He alfrmed that, "not 
without cause," some Italian and Spanish poets, and "long since our 
best English tragedies," have rejected rime, "as a thing of itself, to 
all judicious ears, trivial and of no true musical delight." This true 
poetic delight, he then defined, as consisting "only in apt numbers, 
fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one 
verse to another, not in the jingling sound of like endings — a fault 
avoided by the learned ancients in poetry and all good oratory." He 
claimed that his own neglect of rhyme was not a defect, "though it may 
seem so perhaps to vulgar readers," but was rather "to be esteemed an 
example set, the first in English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic 
poem from the troublesome and modern bondage of riming." 

In his various Prefaces, Dryden was arguing, conclusively it may 
have seemed, for the exalted advantages of rhyme. It aided the mem- 
ory. It added life and strength to repartee. It was an ornament of grace 
and sweetness to the verse. It limited the Fancy, and curbed the wild 
and extravagant imagination. Even blank verse was elevated above 
the dignity of natural conver.sation : having made this departure, the 
superior poet must go on to the perfection of rhyme. 

Obviously Milton had in mind these views of Dryden, some of 
which were more fully developed in the later writings of the latter poet. 



162 THE MILTON TRADITION [254 

But such a statement from Milton, supported by his reputation for 
learning, and the excellence of two great Epics and a Tragedy upon the 
true ancient model, inspired full confidence in those opposed to the new 
school of the couplets. Milton was unanimously regarded the leader of 
this opposition, Paradise Lost was the rallying point of all the forces, 
and Milton 's Verse was the war-cry of every attack upon the couplet. 

No one was quicker to perceive the authority of Milton's voice in 
this matter than Dryden himself, who made in 1668 a place for blank 
verse in heroic poetry.**' Andrew Marvell was also confident that 
Milton's was ultimately the true position (Trib. 8). But there were some 
who denied to blank verse any place in poetry, and consequently denied 
to Milton any considerable rank as a poet. 

This extreme position was taken by Thomas Rymer, who proposed 

(1678) an attack upon the "slender sophistry" of Milton respecting 
versification ;*- and by Samuel Woodford, who strongly defended rhjTne 

(1679) against the growing fashion of blank verse.*^ The spirit of both 
of these writers indicated a strong popular sentiment in favor of what 
Woodford called the new fashion of the age. This attack proposed by 
Rjnner seems to have been abandoned. Perhaps it was blocked by the re- 
actionary Preface by Dryden in favor of blank verse for the stage.** 
But the question of rhyme as an essential of poetry was destined for 
long debate. Perhaps a final answer was intended by The Athenia7i 
Mercury in 1694. The question was formally asked, and this Oracle of 
Wisdom replied : "No certainly, for none will say Milton 's Paradise 
is not Verse tho' he has industriously, and in some places to a fault, 
avoided Rhyme. "*^ With equal assurance, Gildon affirmed (1721), after 
the authority of Milton, that number and harmony alone were essential 
to poetry.'' 

Comparatively few critics were extreme enough to rule out blank 
verse altogether. More numerous were those who allowed it an inferior 
place in poetry. Such, in general, was the position of Dryden, and of 
most »f his followers in the pseudo-classical school of poetry. But this 
concession was usually limited to dramatic versification. Very early 
Dryden admitted blank verse into Tragedy, and later made it the practice 
of his own pen. But very late in life, he refused to "justify Milton for 
his blank verse," though he might be "excused" by certain examples 

*'£«aj' on Dramatic Poesie (i668). Essays (Ker), I, 94-108. 
''-Tragedies of the Last Age (167S). 

'^Samuel Woodford (1636-1700). A Paraphrase Upon the Canticles. London, 
1679. Preface, p. 21, marked "C3." 

»*Preface to All For Love (1678). Essays (Ker), vol. I. 

«^The Athenian Mercury, Dec. 26, 1694. Eng. Stu., 1909, 40:180. 

^^The Laws of Poetry, 1721, p. 69. 



255] CRITICISM OP MILTON 163 

in literary Ijistory." The defeuce of rhyme was, however, left largely 
ill the hands of Dryden. There was a deluge of couplets, from poets 
great and small, who made little effective effort to defend the principles 
of their practice. 

Some of these rhymed productions have a bearing upon the question 
of Milton's rank. One such product was Dryden 's State of Innocence, 
undertaken bj' Milton's permission, and published in 1677. This work 
was of special importance in that it afforded a just comparison between 
the two great masters of the opposing schools in dealing with the same 
subject. The comparison that was made has stood the test of time. 
"Mr. Dryden," exclaimed Charles Gildon, "(was) the greatest Master 
of rhyme that ever we had in England ; but how weak, how enervated, 
I had almost said, how trifling, is his State of Innocence, compared with 
what Milton has said upon the same subject in blank verse ! ' '** 

Another similar attempt at improvement, incidentally important 
because treated with silence, if not contempt, was Shakespeare reduced 
to Couplets, by a Gentleman of Quality (1687). More significant was 
the regret of WoUaston that he did not use blank verse in The Design 
of Part of the Book of Kcclesiastes (1691) f^ and the repentant spirit 
of John Hopkins for having attempted to turn Milton's Paradise Lost 
into rhyme (1699).*"* "When I did it," said Hopkins, "I did not so 
well Perceive the Majesty and Noble air of Milton 's style as I now do. ' ' 

But from the publication of Milton's Verse with his Epic, his 
sympathizers were bold in declaring the merits of blank verse, as used 
and defended by their great master. On the negative side, some dis- 
paraged the use of rhyme f^ some declared it vulgar art f- and some 
condemned it outright."" Milton was, with Dryden, ' ' the greatest Master 
of English Versification;" and Milton's superior excellence was in the 
freedom of his verse. He was thought to have approached nearest to the 
Ancients, and thereby to have opened up the way of "perfection and 

^''Origin and Progress of Satire (1693). Essays (Ker), II, 29-30. 

ssr/ic Laws of Poetry, 1711, p. 121. Cf. also E.raiiien Miscellaneum, Consist- 
ing of Verse & Prose, Land., 1702, p. 189. 

89Wm. Wollaston (1660-1724). 

"Had I been hardy enough Hke some others (which too late I see) to have 
broken a barbarous custom and freed myself from the troublesome and modern 
bondage of Rhyming (as Milton calls it), the business which now immediately 
follows, had been something better than it is." Eng. Stu., 40:179. 

^"Milton's Paradise Lost, Imitated in Rhyme, Bks. 4, 6, 9 (1699)- 

s>iElkanah Settle (1648-1724). Pastor Fido (Li. 1676). "Prologue." 

«=John Sheffield (1649-1721). Essay on Poetry (1682, 1713, 1723). Chalmers, 
Eng. Poets, 10:91-94. 

^^Lewis Theobald, "Prologue" to Orestes; a Dra. Opera (1731)- 



164 THE MILTON TRADITION [256 

growth" to the mother tongue." Some felt that the highest excellence 
of Dry den 's verse was attained in his ' ' run-on ' ' lines, wherein he tended 
toward the style of Milton f^ and one writer of some consequence deliber- 
ately undertook to combine the excellences of the two forms of versi- 
fication.™ 

One author, who had a life-long interest in Milton, wrote a formal 
treatise on versification, apparently for the purpose of defining and 
exalting the classic freedom of the Miltonic verse. ^' The idea of rhyme 
being an unnecessary and barbarous yoke imposed upon the free range 
and liberty of thought, is a note that rang clear in almost every writer on 
the subject. This bondage was felt to be the source of much mischief. 

Of many faults Rhyme is perhaps the Cause; 

Too strict to Rhyme, we slight more useful Laws; 

For that in Greece or Rome was never known. 

Till, by Barbarian Deluges o'erflown, 

Subdued, Undone, they did at last Obey, 

And change their own for their Invaders way.*"* 

The pseudo-classical school tended to emphasize refinement of poetic 
form. The adherents to blank verse emphasized magnitude of thought 
and grandeur of expression. For the one, restraint was essential to ex- 
cellence. For the other, all real excellence was conditioned upon liberty 
of thought and expression, such as that afforded by blank verse and 
exemplified in the Paradise Lost. Upon this liberty depended the possi- 
bility of attaining the excellence of the Ancients. 

In the interest of this necessary condition of poetic greatness, Ed- 
ward Phillips argued (1675) that "Measure alone without any Rime at 
all would give far more ample Scope and Liberty both to Style and 
Fancy than can possibly be obtained in Rime, as evidently appears from 
an English Heroic poem which came forth not many years ago, and 
from the Style of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, &c."^^ Faith in the larger 

^^The Whole Critical IVorks of Monsieur Rapin (1705). 2 vols. "Preface of 
the Publisher" (Roscommon?), vol. I, signed "Nov." 

95C. Gildon, The Complete Art of Poetry, 1718. I, pp. 300-303. 

ssfsaac Watts (1674-1748). "Preface" to Horae Lyricae (1706). See Chal- 
mers, Eng. Poets, 13:19. 

s^Wm. Benson (1682-1754). Letters Concerning Poetical Translation ; and 
Virgil's and Milton's Art of Verse. London, 171s and 1739. Benson erected the 
monument to Milton in Westminster Abbey in 1737. 

'^Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (1633- 1685). .4n Essay On 
Translated Verse (1684). Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 8:264. Spingarn, Crit. Essays 
in 17th Cent., II, 297-309. Cf. also Tribute 14. 

^^Preface Thcatrum Poetarum (1675). Spingarn, Crit. Essays in the 17th 
Cenfurv. II, 266. 



257] CRITICISM OF MILTON 165 

possibilities of blank verse was strongly advanced by Roscommon, and 
lies at the basis of Atterbury's famous prophetic criticism of Waller, 
which is especially important because of its early date (1690). 

"Waller's rhymes were always good, and take off the danger of sur- 
feit that way, (he) strove to please by variety and new sounds. Had he carried 
this observation, among others, as far as it would go, it must, methinks, have 
shown him the incurable fault of this jingling kind of poetry; and have led his 
later judgment to blank verse. But he continued an obstinate lover of rhyme to 
the very last. He had raised it, and brought it to that perfection we now enjoy 
it in; and the poet's temper (which has always a little vanity in it) would not 
suffer him ever to slight a thing he had taken so much pains to adorn. My lord 
Roscommon was more impartial : no man ever rhymed truer and evener than he : 
yet he is so just as to confess, that it is but a trifle; and to wish the tyrant de- 
throned, and blank verse set up in its room. There is a third person (Mr. Dry- 
den), the living glory of our English poetry, who has disclaimed the use of it 
upon the stage ; though no man ever employed it there so happily as he. It was 
the strength of his genius, that first brought it into credit in plays ; and it is the 
force of his example, that has thrown it out again. In other kinds of writing it 
continues still ; and will do so till some excellent poet arises, that has leisure, and 
resolution to break the charm, and free us from the troublesome bondage of 
rhyming, as Mr. Milton very well calls it ; and has proved it very well, by what 
he has wrote in another way. But this is a thought for times at some distance ; 
the present is a Httle too warlike : it may perhaps furnish out matter for a good 
form in the next, but it will hardly encourage one now : without prophesying, a 
man may easily know what sort of laurels are like to be in request."'"" 

By 1706 George Granville (1667-1735) was discussing the various 
kinds of subjects that were suited to the several kinds of verse-form, 
with serious reflections upon the use of blank verse/"' It looked then as 
if Atterbury's prophecy were destined to an earlier fulfillment than the 
prophet, in 1690, may have thought possible. The imitations of Milton 
at this time will show something of the same promise. In 1721, Gildon 
took a historical survey of the whole controversy, and confidently affirmed 
as a fact the triumph of blank verse for use in long poems, as suggested 
in Milton's Verse.^"- One does not wonder, therefore, to hear Aaron 
Hill, soon afterwards, exhorting the poets to rise 

^""Preface to the Second Part of Mr. Waller's Poems ( i6go). Chalmers, Eng. 
Poets, 8 -.ii- 

""Lord Lansdowne, The British Enchanters. "Preface." Chalmers, Eng. 
Poets, II :4i. 

Prior discussed also the same question as to his own practice. "Preface" to 
Solomon on the I'anity of the World (1718). Chalmers, 10:206-7, Aldine Ed., 
n, 84. 

''■"-The Laws of Poetry, 1721, pp. 65-69. 



166 THE MILTON TRADITION [258 

Up from the poppied vale ! and ride the storm 
That thunders in blank verse !•"'■ 

The general effect of this controversy about versification was to 
exalt the rank and honour of Milton. Not one step of advancement in 
theory was made upon Milton's Verse; but the constant attention de- 
voted to his theory and exalted practice brought many to realize the 
truth of Milton's position. Obviously, the full import of this side of the 
Miltonic interests can neither be measured nor appreciated apart from 
the re-action to his influence upon verse-form, seen in the multitudes 
of Imitations. Obviously too, the triumph at this point seems less 
complete, and perhaps was less so, for this is the special point of uncom- 
promising antagonism between the admirers of Milton and the dominant 
pseudo-classical school of poetry. 

Such are the lines of Miltonic interests in the general fields of appre- 
ciation and criticism, by which Milton rose from the unknown to the 
best known, from obscurity to "the very pinnacle of the Temple of 
Fame." It needs only a moment of reflection, to see that it was prac- 
tically all due to Paradise Lost. Milton soared to the Heavens on the 
wings of his own sublimity. On the Continent, it was otherwise. There, 
as appears even in the English writings of the time, Milton's reputation 
was made, or unmade, by his Prose Works. But in England, his Minor 
Poetry was little noticed, his Pro.se was little liked, while his Epic was, 
perhaps, the most noticed, most read, most criticized, and finally the 
most exalted Poem in the English Tongue. 

lospoem in Praise of Blank Verse. Quoted by Warton, Essay on Pope. II, 
186; and Beers, p. 217. Dated about 1726. Hill, however, later complained of the 
"blank verse eruptions." Richardson's Corresp., I, 101-104. 



CHAPTER VI 

Controversies and Explanations, 1730-1765 

The period from 1730 to 1765 was pre-eminently a period of com- 
mentaries and controversies, concerned mainly with Paradise Lost. The 
great poem was defended against all attacks, and its contents were 
minutely explained. In relation to the Romantic movement, this period 
was one of deep and rich preparation for that response to Milton, which 
was evident in the preceding period, rather prominent in this period, 
and powerful in the next. 

A part of that response was, however, due to the Minor Poems, 
which were introduced into general familiarity at this time ; and to the 
Prose Works, which were rendered more or less popular. These lesser 
lines of activity will receive attention first in the present chapter. 

About the middle of this period certain of the Minor Poems sprang 
into prominence as the adopted forms of expression among the ode- 
writers, and in the smaller poetry of the time. Such interests belong 
properly to the story of poetic imitations. But the earlier poems of 
Milton were not without a measure of general and critical interest in 
the present period. 

Thomas Warton declared that the Minor Poems of Milton emerged 
into critical notice in connection with the Bentley Controversy (1732), 
which is discussed later in this chapter. The disputed point in that 
controversy was the authenticity of certain portions of Paradise Lost 
which Bentley had regarded as spurious. In opposition to these views 
of Bentley, Pearce, Warburton, and others supported the genuineness 
of the passages in question by appealing to the poetic usages of Milton 
in the earlier poetry. Thus the Minor Poems came into critical notice 
under a heavy debt to the larger interests of Paradise Lost. 

The obligation was even greater in the biographical interests that 
marked the next stage in the introduction of the Minor Poems. Pre- 
vious to this period, the life of Milton had been written largely from 
the materials of his controversial Prose Writings. But the exaltation 
of Milton, together with the passing of political malice, led the biogra- 
phers to realize, early in this period, that Milton's political career was 
in the nature of an episode in the life of a great poet. Consequently 
167 



168 THE MILTON TRADITION [260 

emphasis began more and more heavily to fall upon the Minor Poems 
as important to the history of the poet, and as furnishing the real ante- 
cedents of Paradise Lost. 

This transition of emphasis began faintly to appear in the Life by 
Fenton (1725), who accorded some of the Minor Poems new notes of 
praise. The new emphasis was prominent in the Life by the Richard- 
sons (1734), who attempted to trace, in the earlier poetry and the prose, 
the development of the genius that produced Paradise Lost. Birch, 
under the same impulse in his Life of Milton (1738), published the 
corrected manuscripts of the great poet, as a satisfaction to these who 
were curious about the earlier experimentation of that genius whom 
England honored above all others. Peck, in his Memoirs (1740), carried 
the new emphasis into an analysis of the several Minor Poems. This 
work marked a new stage of introduction, when the Minor Poems began 
to be treated on their own account. Hitherto, however, the introduction 
of these earlier poems of Milton had been the concern of scholars ; and, 
even with them, the Minor Poems had been emphasized almost entirely 
because of their relations to Paradise Lost. 

The manner in which the Minor Poems became the familiar posses- 
sion of the general public was not the natural sequence of the preceding 
labours of scholarship. All of these poems, including Samson and 
excluding Lycidas, that became popular at this time, were sung into 
popularity. 

Lycidas, the single exception to this rule, owed its early introduction 
to biographical emphasis, and, probably, in a measure, to its place in 
Dryden's Miscellany (1716, 1727). The poem was quoted in a very 
familiar manner by Wm. Buncombe (1735) ;' and it was similarly al- 
luded to in the Vision of Patience (1741), by Samuel Boyse.- Lycidas 
seems to have been earlier known and more widely read than the other 
Minor Poems, which depended for first popularity upon adaptation and 
the support of song. 

Comus was adapted for the stage by Dr. John Dalton, and set to 
music by Dr. Arne, in 1738. In this form, the Masque became very 
popular,-' was acted in different cities, gave its author. Dr. Dalton, a 
lasting reputation,* and reached its historical climax on April 5, 1750, 

iWm. Duncombe (1690-1769'). Poc 
"Preface," p. III. 

2Saml. Boyse (1708-1759). Tlic V 
1741. Chalmers Eng. Pts., 14:539-41. 

•■'Chapter II, pp. 35-37. for editions. Warton's Milton, lygi. pp. xi- 

"Mo. Rev., March, 1797. 103(22) 1329. 





'1 Sc7: Occ. 


. . . Ir 


V J. Hughes, t-i 


'ision 


of Patience. 


An 


AUecjorical Poei 



261] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 169 

when the literary men of London puffed a performance of Covins for the 
benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, Milton's grand-daughter/' 

A critical announcement of the original performance (1738), while 
indicating no great popular familiarity with the poem, regarded this 
revival as evidence of a wholesome literary taste." Certainly this revival 
was evidence of a new literary interest beginning to assert itself against 
the dominant mode of the times. 

Two years later (1740), Samson Agonistcs was transformed into a 
three-act oratorio, set to music by Handel, and attained an unusual 
popularity for that classical performance.' This tragedy was not un- 
known, having been kept before the public to some extent by its historical 
connection with the epic poems.** But at this time the moditied tragedy 
was associated with the Companion Poems in a manner effective for 
their popularity. 

These little masterpieces, destined soon to be most popular, seem to 
have been the last of the more prominent Minor Poems to receive separ- 
ate distinction. John Hughes had felt II Pcnseroso incomplete, and 
supplied a supplement. Dr. Buncombe, describing this work of Hughes, 
pronounced the poems "incomparable" (1735). Peck declared 
L' Allegro and II Penseroso translated into all modern languages, and 
admired at home and abroad (1740). The Companion Poems really 
became popular the year of Peck's commendation, and then through the 
musical adaptation of them by Handel. They lie on the border-line 
between lyrical and descriptive poetry." Handel, perceiving their lyrical 
possibilities, adapted them into song, set them to his own glorious music, 
and made them a part of his Samson Oratorio (1740). Their superiority 
was felt at once and their popularity was immediate. 

With the foregoing fact in mind, one is prepared to appreciate 
the assertion of Joseph Warton, that the Minor Poems of Milton were 
sung into popularity. Speaking of the Nativity Ode, he said : 

"This Ode, (is) much less celebrated than L' Allegro and Penseroso, which are 
now universally known ; but which, by a strange fatality, lay in a sort of obscurity, 

■'■See Appendix J, where the notes on Milton's family take notice of this and 
similar matters. 

^"The Masque of Coiiius, exhibited at Drury-Lane, was wrote by Milton. It 
is a pastoral kind of poem, and some of as beautiful Descriptions and Images 
run thro' it. as are to be found in any of his other Writings. The Stile, as it is rural, 
is more simple and plain than that of Paradise Lost, and tho' there is nothing but 
must give infinite pleasure to the most exalted genius, there is nothing beyond the 
Comprehension of a common capacity." Gent. Mag., March, 1738, 8:151. 

^Chapter II, p. 34, which shows 9 editions between 1742 and 1765. 

'"D. R." The Craftsman, No. 490, Nov. 22, 1735. 14:186-192, p. 189. 

"Edward Bliss Reed. English Lyric Poetry, p. 11. 



170 THE MILTON TRADITION [262 

the private enjoyment of a few curious readers, till they were set to admirable 
music by Mr. Handel, .-^nd indeed this volume of Milton's Miscellaneous Poems 
has not till very lately met with suitable regard." In the same pages he said that 
Pope and Young were "more frequently perused and quoted than the L' Allegro 
and II Penseroso of Milton."'" 

]\Iost of the Minor Poems showed- rather definite lines of re-action to 
this popularizing activity of the stage and song. Lycidas provoked some 
formal criticism at the hands of William Shenstone, because of its 
interest as an elegy. He discussed the versification, mentioned "two 
recent and beautiful imitations," and regarded the verse-form as the 
best for an elegy of length, though he was never fully reconciled to the 
remoteness of the rhymes." But the real re-action to Lycidas was more 
productive than critical. The poem allied itself with the Druid ele- 
ment of the Celtic revival, as plainly appeared in the emphasis of 
Warton's Essay on Pope,^'- and in the writings of Dr. Hugh Blair, who 
was able to point out remarkable parallels in the Poems of Ossian.^^ 

Camus was the inspiration of some imitations, but of very little 
formal criticism at this time. The distinctive re-action to the popu- 
larity of this Masque was a peculiar chorus of echoes in the poetry of 
this mid-century period. 

Comus was quoted to show "the tender Emotions of a Heart in 
Love infinitely more pleasing than the short-lived Extacies of Vice and 
Wantonness."'* Lord Melcombe placed the following significant lines 

"Under the Busto of Comus, in a Buffet at Hammersmith:" 

While rosy wreaths the goblet decks, 
Then Comus spoke, or seemed to speak ; 
"This place for social hours designed, 
May Care and Business never find, &c.'^ 

^oEssay on Pope. 1756. 5th ed., vol. i, pp. 36-38. 

iiWm. Shenstone (1714-1763). A Prefatory Essay on Elegy. Works in I'crse 
& Prose. 2 vols. 1777- 1:21-22. Chalmers Eng. Pts., 13 :264. 

i=Jos. Warton (1722-1800). E-ssay on Pope (1756). 7, 356. 5th Ed. Cf. 
Beers, Romanticism, 192-3. 

"Hugh Blair. D.D. (1718-1800V .4 Crit. Disscr. On the Pms. of Ossian. 1763. 
Vol. I 71-222, pp. 207-8. 

^*An Essay on Love and Gaiety. Gent. Mag., Feb., 1741. 11 :78-;9- 

'^Geo. B. Dodington (d. 1762). Dated ".\ug.. 1750.'' and may echo the special 
performance of Comus in .-^pril of that year. Pearch. Continuation, 17S3. I :329. 



263] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 171 

In sharp contrast with the above was the tone of Charles Emily, in his 
poem called Death (1762) : 

The festive roar of laughter, tlie warm glow 
Of brisk-eyed joy, and friendship's genial bowl. 



Delight not ever : from the boisterous scene, 
Of riot far, and Conius's wild uproar. 



Permit me lonely to wander. i« 

Both tones of reminiscence appear in John Cunningham, who in one 
poem placed "Blithe Comns to guide the gay feast, "'^ and in another 
spoke of man spending "his rich hours in revelry . . . with Comus, and 
the laughter loving crew."^* Sir John Hill was even more explicit, in 
his poem called The Rout (1763) : 

Yet, to the Rout one beauty did resort, 
Like Milton's lady in his Comus-eourt; 
One (as he sings) a nymph of purer fire, 
A virgin worthy the celestial choir.^^ 

Garrick, too, who once took part in Comus, did not forget the essentials 
of that Comus-court ;-" and even Gray recalled "Comus, and his mid- 
night crew," in his great Installation Ode, vsrritten for a very formal 
occasion. 

The re-action to Samson Agonistes, was, on the contrary, so far as 
records indicate, almost entirely critical. The Adaptation was evidently 
popular, but the original classical tragedy is the thing that claimed 
critical attention. While the adaptation was in the midst of its popu- 
larity, Dr. Johnson subjected the Tragedy to a most severe examination 
(1751) under the rules of Aristotle. 

The Doctor allowed the Tragedy to have "a beginning and an end which 
Aristotle himself could not have disapproved ; but it must be allowed to want a 
middle, since nothing passes between the first act and the last, that either hastens 
or delays the death of Samson. The whole drama, if its superfluities were cut off, 
would scarcely fill a single act : yet this is the tragedy which ignorance has admired, 

i^Chas. Emily (d. 1762). Death. Lloyd's Mag., Oct., 1762. i :9l-9. Pearch, 
1:16-26. Cf. his Praise of Isis (i/SS)- Pearch, 1:26-38. 

i^John Cunningham (1729-1773). Newcastle Beer. Chalmers, 14:453. 

i^Same. An Elegy On A Pile of Ruins (1762). Chalmers, 14:443-5. 

"Sir John Hill (1716-1775). The Rout C1763). Lloyd's Mag., Jan.. 1763. 
1 :3S2-3S7. 

^''Mr. Garrick's Anst^'er (To Mr. Aiistcy . ... on Meeting him at a Friend's 
House). The Ptl. IVks. London. 1785. 11:522. 



172 THE MILTON TRADITION [264 

and bigotry applauded." The sentiments, too, he found "exposed to just exceptions 
for want of care, or want of discernment." This treatment he closed with a long 
list of the beauties of the Tragedy, and an appended statement of his own purely 
literary motive in this examination.-' 

Others were concerned in the classical aspects of this tragedy. 
Hurd regarded Samson (in 1751) "the most artificial and highly fin- 
ished" of all Milton's poems, and for that reason, perhaps, the most 
neglected, but "the best dramatic Essay on the Ancient model. "-- 
Mason felt that Milton had adopted the ancient model out of contempt 
for his own age, and striving to make the difference felt, had formed 
"Samson Agonistes on a model more simple and severe than Athens 
herself would have demanded."-'' Goldsmith cited, with commendation, 
Milton's happy imitation of his Greek models.-* But the classical play 
as such was never popular ; and Dr. Armstrong thought it hopeless even 
to transform Samson into a Tragedy.-'' 

The Companion Poems provoked in this period a surprisingly 
small measure of criticism. The oratorio arrangement of the poems had 
served to emphasize their lyrical qualities; and in this distinctive char- 
acter they received some critical attention. 

Peck, as stated elsewhere, in his Memoirs of Milton, defended these, 
and other Juvenalia of Milton against the strictures of Dryden. Joseph 
Warton constantly exalted these Juvenalia of Milton, as superior in 
poetic character to the works of Pope. Smart advanced the lyrical 
qualities of these poems beyond the best effort of the kind by either 
Dryden or Pope. That, too, was the quality which Newton especially 
commended in his Life of Milton.-" Smart said, in the preface to his 

-M Critical Exam, of Samson Agonistes, Rambler A'o. /jp, July i6, 1751. 
The Works. 1825. II, p. 81 and 87. No. 140. July 20, 1751. Cf. also the familiar 
echo of Samson in No. 162. Oct. 5, 1751. 

2^Rich. Hurd (1720-1808). The Works. iSii. I, 73-74; and The Common- 
place Book, Mem. 289. 

-^Wm. Mason (1724-1797). Letter 11, prefixed to Elfrida (1751). Chalmers 
Eng. Pts. 18:339-340. Cf. Milton's Intro, to Samson. 

-*0. Goldsmith (1728-1774). Criticism of the Greek Tragedies by Dr. John 
Burton (1696-1771). Mo. Rev., Dec, 1758. The Works, (ed J. W. Gibbs) 4:315: 
(ed. Murray) 4:328. 

-^Dr. John Armstrong (1709-1779), as "Latmcelot Temple." Sketches: Of 
English Verse (I, 157), and Of the Dramatic Unities (II, 241-3). 1758 and 1770. 

-'"Thos. Newton (1704-1782). Life of Milton. Ed. Dublin, 1773. Vol. I, p. 



265] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 173 

Odfs For JIusic on St. Cecilia's Day (1746), that Dryden's and Pope's 
similai- odes "are incomparably beautiful and great; neither is there 
to be found two more finished pieces of lyric poetry in our language, 
L' Allegro and II Penseroso of Milton excepted, which are the finest in 
any."-' There was also a new interest in these poems aroused by the 
Edition of Beaumont and Fletcher (1750), whose song in The Passionate 
Madman was thought to have been a source of II Pensei-oso.-* 

But the distinctive re-action to the Companion Poems, as to the 
Sonnets also, was that of imitation. The transition from the polished 
rationalism of Pope to the imaginative enthusiasm of the Romantic poets, 
may be looked on as a valley of low spirits. The mist of uncertainty 
obscured the summits on either side. There were no poets of the first 
rank, and comparatively little poetry of immortal excellence. In the 
valley there were, however, a few who rose enough above the common 
rank for notice in historical treatment. Some of these, as the Wartons, 
Collins, Gray, and others, owed a heavy debt to Milton's Companion 
Poems. In this valley of depression and shadows, every one felt free 
to plunder the works of Milton. They stole his vocabulary. They stole 
his Personifications. They stole his verse-form. They stole his scheme 
of psychological contrast. But they could not steal his spirit. That was 
too high for them to attain. The result was that there was much imi- 
tation, and little real poetry. Only those who were great enough to 
possess poetic powers of their own, by which they might supply a body 
and a soul to these outward garbs of poetry, produced anything that was 
worth while. But those who represented this type of re-action to Mil- 
ton's poems produced a small volume of verse that is possessed of con- 
siderable merit. 

While the nation thus diverted itself with the Minor Poems of 
Milton, everyone felt that the serious business of Milton, his message to 
the world, and his influence upon that age, was a question of his Prose 
Writings, and even more of his great epic. To these the nation addressed 
itself most seriously, most profoundly. 

This was the period when the Prose Works were rendered compar- 
atively popular. Two generations of those that hated Milton had passed 
away. The Puritan movement, which had so profoundly affected the 

-'Christoplier Smart (1722-1771). Preface to Ode &c. 1746. Chalmers Eng. 
Pts. 16:24. 

-'This edition of Beaumont & Fletcher, 10 vols. ( 1750), was begun by Theobold, 
(1628-1744), and completed by Seward and Sympson, The suggestion of this 
source relation was made in the edition, and sanctioned by "T. W." in The Old 
Maid, Jan. 31, 1756. Drake, in his Glcanor (No. 98, II, 376-383), printed this 
article, and added The Author's Abstract of Melancholy ("probably 1600"), pre- 
fixed to Burton's Anatomy (1621) as another model. 



174 THE MILTON TRADITION [266 

life of England and the American Colonies, was sufficiently remote for 
historical study, that would throw light upon the present problems of 
depressed England. Moreover, the very depression of England was 
felt by many to be connected with the national losses sustained in the 
defeat of the powerful and progressive Puritan movement. The formal- 
ism of the Queen Anne Period had crushed the life and spirit out of 
the nation, and left only a condition of despondency. The culmination 
of many circumstances turned the minds of men toward the Seventeenth 
Century as a possible source of relief from depression. There was, 
therefore, in this period, a revival of the political writings of those 
troublous times, a revival that concerned itself most centrally with the 
Prose Works of Milton. 

The conduct of this revival was largely in the hands of that pro- 
gressive element of the Whig Party which later developed into the 
radical politicians. Among these leaders one maj^ find the name of the 
Scotch Poet, James Thomson (1700-1748), a student, lover, and imi- 
tator, of Milton's verse, a whig, pronounced but not radical, whose 
political views show many points of sympathy with those of Milton. 
Next to him was the more ardent whig biographer, the Rev. Thos. Birch, 
D.D. (1705-1766), Secretary of the Royal Society, who rose rapidly in 
the church under the patronage of the influential Hardwicke Family, 
and whose pronounced whigism in The Life of Arch-bishop Tillotson 
(1752-1753) created a commotion in the ranks of Toryism. Closely 
allied with Birch in many ways was the republican Richard Baron 
(d. 1766), whose copious editorial work gave him a prominence in the 
progressive ranks that his native abilities would not otherwise justify.^* 
Another leading spirit in this group that grew ever more radical, was the 
adventurous Arch-deacon Francis Blackburne (1705-1787), a liberal in 
politics, with a pronounced antipathy to certain regulations in the 
Established Church,^" who late in life published Milton's Eikonoklastes 
and the Tractate along with a severe castigation of Dr. Johnson for 
abusing the great English Poet. The man, however, who most nearly 
combined all these liberal elements and activities was Thomas Hollis 

=^Baron was a close friend of Gordon, author of the Independent Whig. As 
an editor, Baron made for Hollis a collection of works defending the republicanism of 
the Seventeenth Century. He edited the Oijf. on Govmt., by Algernon Sidney ( 1751), 
Milton's Prose (1753), Ludlow's Memoirs (1751), Eikonoklastes (1756), reprinted 
(1770), Needham's Excellency of a Free State (1757), and was asked by Hollis for 
an edition of Marvell. (D. N. B.) He also collected the liberal writings of 
Gordon, Hoadly, Sykes, Arnall, and Blackburne, into his Pillars of Priestcraft and 
Orthodoxy Shaken (1767). 

^^He held that a pledge to accept and teach from the Bible was all that should 
be required of protestant pastors. In 1752 he severely attacked Butler's Serious 
Inquiry into the Importance of External Religion. 



267] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 175 

(1720-1774). He claimed to be "a true whig," but was accused of 
being a republican. He was said to have been very pious, but did not 
attend church, and was accused of atheism. His ancestors had con- 
tributed to Harvard College, and he did much for the spirit of American 
liberty. His extended editorial work did much to revive the force of 
seventeenth century radicalism in politics.'^ He was a curious collector 
of Milton relics, regarded the great poet as the Champion of English 
Liberty, and made for himself some fame by this alliance \vith the 
views of Milton. ^- 

Milton 's History of Britain was never without sympathetic readers.^' 
But these leaders of liberalism set themselves deliberately to make the 
controversial writings of Milton known, understood, and popular. They 
poured forth the spirit of those writings in blank verse arguments for 
liberty. They wrote an effective Life of Milton. They published his 
Prose Works in two massive folio editions, and edited his special Tracts 
in separate form. They threw around those Works an interpreting, 
reinforcing mass of seventeenth century literature of a kindred spirit. 
Above all, and through all, they insisted that "all young gentlemen 
(should) study our old writers, especially Milton and Sidney, as one 
remedy for those evils which threaten the utter ruin of our country."" 
By these means, the works of Milton that had earlier been condemned 
en masse,^^ were brought into favorable notice, and caused to be read 
with discriminating attention and sympathetic interest.^" Thus was 
preparation made for a deep and radical influence from Milton's Prose 
Works upon the political aspects of the Romantic Movement. 

But more significant for Milton's influence upon that Movement 
as a whole was the energy expended upon Paradise Lost during this 

siToIand's Life of Milton and Amyntor (1761), Sidney's Discourse on Gov- 
ernment (1763), Neville's Plato Redivivus (1763), Locke's Two Treatises on Gov- 
ernment (1764) and Letters Concerning Toleration (1765), Staveley's Romish 
Horsc-lcech (1769), Neville's Isle of Pines (1768), Sidney's Works (1772); were 
all edited by Hollis. 

^-The Memoirs of Titos. Hollis (1780), privately printed. Edited by T. Brand 
(Hollis), including a portrait of Milton, age ten, and much curious information 
concerning the poet. Cr. Rev., Sept., 1781, 52:161-175. Chap. IV, Note 11 above. 

^■-Appendix A. 

3*Preface to Baron's Eikonoklastes (1756). Quoted by the Rcvieiv, which de- 
clared the nation under obligation to this editor. Mo. Rev., Aug., 1756, 15:192. 

•'^Cf. Tributes No. 21, 23, 32, etc. 

^^Political animosity, of course, did not at any time die out. Cf. Rich. Kurd's 
strictures on Milton's Defence. Commonplace Book (Memoirs, 303-305.") Lady 
D, Bradshaigh had never read the treatise on Divorce, having "heard it much con- 
demned, as a thing calculated to serve his 6wn private ends." To Mr. Richardson 
(Rich. Corresp., vi, 198. July 28, 1752). Chap. II, sec. 9 above. 



176 THE MILTON TRADITION [268 

period of Defence and Explanation. Having exalted Milton to the 
skies, his admirers were jealous of his rank with a devout and intolerant 
jealousy. But they had fully received of his treasures, and were even 
more than willing freely to give. Besides, these exalted treasures came 
to have a new significance in connection with the Romantic tendencies 
which arose during this mid-century period. This poem, which had 
already been successfull}' exalted in opposition to the dominance of the 
heroic couplets, became the rallying point for imaginative literature in 
its triumph over the rational element in poetry. Moreover, the poem 
had, in germ at least, the essentials of many a specific line of Romantic 
development. It was but natural therefore that the very spirit of this 
age should labor with a sword in one hand and a commentary in the 
other, while it patriotically built the contents of this important poem 
into the heart and life of the nation. The effect of all this activity was 
to make the poem the common possession of the English public, and 
thus prepare for a far-reaching influence upon life itself, an influence 
which cannot well be measured. 

By comparison, this was the great period of critical editions of 
Paradise Lost. Before 1730 the Annotations of Hume had supplied 
the demand, until the Critique of Addison was utilized by Tonson in 
his Edition of 1720. But the present period (1730-1765) was ushered 
in by the formal labors of the learned Dr. Richard Bentlej' (1662-1742), 
whose edition appeared in 1732. The work was unwisely undertaken,'" 
in response to a request from Queen Caroline, who cherished a life-long 
interest in the great English Poet. The earlier interest of the Queen, 
while she was still the Princess of Wales, in befriending the destitute 
Mrs. Clarke, daughter of Milton, is one of the memorable and pathetic 
events of Literary History. No doubt the Queen intended to present 
to the Milton-loving English people a monumental edition of Paradise 
Lost, with copious elucidating annotations from the lore of the ancients. 
No doubt, too, she congratulated herself upon securing for these labors 
the man who was the very embodiment of Ancient Learning, and, there- 
fore, as she thought, best fitted for this work. 

But the Queen's edition, unwisely undertaken, was infinitely more 
unwisely executed. Bentley was, with all his learning, very poorly 
equipped for this kind of work. He had a rather keen sense of poetic 
form, biit very little sense otherwise, it would seem, about the business 
of the Muses. What he did was to invent a fictitious Editor, who, as 
Bentley supposed, took advantage of Milton's blindness, poverty, and 
general odium, and interpolated into the first editions of Paradise Lost 
a lot of matter which Milton did not write. This, of course, was faulty 
in many ways, especially in versification. These supposedly spurious 

^■Jas. Duff Duff. Cawb. Hist. Eiig. Lit., IX, Ch. xiii, pp. 378-380. 



269] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 177 

sections Bentley took from the body of the text, and placed in the 
margin of his edition. In the process he thrashed Milton most severely 
over the shoulders of this fictitious Editor. Upon this theory he worked 
out his new edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, which was printed in an 
elaborate volume of 399 pages in 1732. But the Editor-theory was an 
evident sham. Milton was felt to be outraged, and his friends rose in 
arms. One may well imagine the poor Queen's disappointment, and 
even chagrin, at the consequence of her good intentions. 

The storm, however, did not break all at once. It had, on the con- 
trary, gathered gradually. In 1725 Elijah Fenton had brought out an 
amended edition of Paradise Lost, which may have given Bentley some 
suggestions. This work of Fenton had perhaps some merits, and the 
new edition was popular. But there were some objections and some 
objectors. In 1731 The Traveller published Observations on an Edition 
of Milton puhlished in 1725. This protest was designed to show "a few 
specimens of the ignorance, want of taste, and siUy officiousness of 
Mr. Fenton, in his corrections of Milton." The writer pronounced the 
work of Fenton "mean or trifling," and regretted "the privilege that 
rich booksellers have of putting it in the power of any ignorant editor to 
murder the finest authors.""^ Very soon the Grub-Street Journal ridi- 
culed the same pretentious critic.'" 

In September, 1731, Dr. Bentley published an Essay to Defend a 
Critical Emendation of Paradise Lost, setting forth the general intentions 
of this plan of criticism. At once he received the name of "fierce 
Bentley;" and an epigramatic apostrophe to Charles I, said — "the 
murd'rous critic has avenged thy murder."*" The Essay was only 
a prelude to the Edition, which appeared early in 1732. In his Preface 
the politic Doctor assumed an attitude of awe and veneration for 
Paradise Lost, played heavily upon the national sympathies for Milton's 
blindness and obscurity which laid him at the mercy of any one who 
might care to take advantage of these conditions; and marveled in con- 
gratulation to the nation, of course, that Paradise Lost had ever tri- 
umphed over so many difficulties — an impossible result but for its 
inherent greatness. 

But all this would not atone for the Doctor's offense. A Letter To 
Bavius (Gent. Mag., 2:571-2) entered a .strong protest against this 
edition. To the Reformer (2:601) was a severe castigation of the Doctor 
for mutilating Milton's text. This writer had "deem'd it sacrilege to 
treat Milton's work irreverently." A certain "A. Z." regarded this 
attempt overbold (2:658-9). By April (1732) the critical methods 

38Traveller, No. 22, Feb. 6, 1731. Gent. Mag., Feb., 1731, i :5S. 

'9No. 82, July 29. 1731. Gent. Mag., July, 1731, i :30i. 

^''Grub St. Jour. No. 99, pp. 182-3, and No. 100, pp. 183. Nov. 25 and Dec 2, 1731. 



178 THE MILTON TRADITION [270 

of Bentley were under question. He had claimed the emendations 
made extempore, without any apprehension of censure. One writer 
admitted them extempore, but questioned the prudence of their publi- 
cation (2:690-1). "A. Z.," better informed, declared them under 
preparation for eight or nine years, and cited Dr. Ashenhurst as proof 
(2:753-4). He exposed the real intent of this supposed Editor, as a 
means of covertly abusing Milton himself. Other papers followed, with 
much the same ad hominem spirit. 

But time had produced more scholarly discussions. These mainly 
dropped the editor-sham, which Bentley himself did not seriously credit. 
Zachary Pearce (1690-1774) published (1732, 1733) a Review of The 
Text of Paradise Lost, in which the Chief of Dr. Bentley' s Emendations 
are considered. Warburton pronounced these criticisms of Pearce ' ' good 
in their kind, but not of the best kind."*' This work of Pearce, with 
Swift's Milton Restored, and Bentley Deposed (1732) seems to have 
satisfied scholarship,*- but not the national sense of outrage. That con- 
tinued to vent itself at irregular intervals,*' and today it is calmly 
regarded that Bentley probably helped the cause of Milton to tlie extent 
of correcting one mistaken long "s" for an "f". (VII, 450). R. C. 

<i Kurd's Memoirs, p. 288. 

-•^David Mallet (1705-65). Of Verbal Criticism (i733)> devoted a section to 
Bentley's abuse of Milton. Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 14:9-11. In 1779 there were 
Hints Toward a Life of Dr. Bentley. Gent. Mag., Nov., 1779, 49 :54s. 

*">Upott Bentley's Emendations of Milton (i75i)- The Student— Oxford — 
Cambridge Misc. (1751), H, 358. 

When Milton's forfeit life was in debate, 
Some urged his crimes, and some th' unsettled state; 
Hyde paus'd : — now keen resentment filled his breast, 
Now softness sooth'd, while genius shone confessed : — 
At length the lingering statesman thus his thoughts e.xpressed. 

When I consider with impartial view, 
The crimes he wrought, the good he yet may do ; 
His violated faith and fictions dire, 
His tow'ring genius and poetic fire; 
I blame the rebel, but the bard admire. 
Mercy unmerited his muse may raise, 
. To sound his monarch's, or his maker's praise. 
Yet come it will, the day decreed by fate ; — 
By Bentley's pen reduc'd to woeful state, 
Far more thou'll dread his friendship than our hate. 
Procrustes like, he'll ever find pretense 
To strain, or pare thee to this wretched sense. 
Rack'd, skrew'd, enerv'd by emendation sad, 
The hangman had not us'd thee half so bad. 



271] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 179 

Jebb has good reason for further believing that "Bentley's correction 
(of ichorous instead of nectarous, Book VI, 332), if not true, deserves 
to be so." {Richard Bentley, pp. 183-4.) 

Critical editors profited, perhaps, by Bentley 's fate, and later critical 
editions fared better with the public. The natural thing was a conserva- 
tive re-action. This appeared in the labors of John Hawkey, who com- 
pared Paradise Lost with the authentic editions, and thus produced 
a revised edition of the poem, in Dublin, 1747. But the time was ripen- 
ing toward a more extensive work than had yet appeared. In order to a 
full appreciation of this larger work, it is necessary to develop a differ- 
ent, but closely related, line of Miltonic activity. That is the work of 
the commentators, and critics, for whose labors this period is especially 
noted. 

Milton was censured ( 1731 ) by John Clarke ' ' for the impiety which 
sometimes breaks from Satan's mouth;"** but the prevailing opinion 
was that of excellence in this and most other respects. Even Swift, 
who was glad to see the poem turned into rhyme, declared that in the 
earliest days "it (had) gained ground merely by its merit."*'' These 
words are like the professed sentiments of Bentley, whose exceptions to 
that "merit" had turned the attention of scholarship to particular points 
of the exalted poem. Resolutely, the nation took up the task of setting 
these matters exactly right. The age and learning of Dr. Bentley led 
the critics and commentators, for the most part, to treat his name with 
respectful silence ; but the force of re-action against his criticism was felt 
for many long years. 

Among the early critical papers of this class, were the Remarks upon 
Spenser's Poems, by Dr. John Jortin,*" which are said to be among his 
best critical works. But even these are rather dull papers, as might be 
expected, from a writer whose mind could distinguish between ' ' absolute 
and relative dryness" in criticism. Very different in character, and in 
effectiveness, no doubt, was the massive volume (546 pp.) of Explanatory 
Notes and Remarks on Milton's Paradise Lost, by J. Richardson, Father 
and Son, published the same year (1734). The Father (1665-1747) 
had acquired a refined taste from his extended experience in the sister 
arts of literature and painting. The Son (1694-1771) contributed most 
of the classical learning. Together they produced a S3rmpathetie work 

**Essay on Study, 1731, p. 204. Dr. Johnson later regarded this work of Milton 
very well done. Life of Milton (Hill), I, 173. 

^-''Letter to Sir Charles U'ogaii, July, 1732. Swift declared himself an admirer 
of Milton. Works (Scott, 1814), 17:438-445. 

*8John Jortin, D.D. (1698-1770). Remarks on Spenser's Poems. London, 
i~34. Pp. 171-186 treat Milton. Disney, in his Memoirs of Jortin (1792) accredited 
him with skill and taste in criticism. See Cr. Rev., Sept., 1792, n. s., 6:39-45. 



180 THE MILTON TRADITION [272 

that became a standard eighteenth century commentary on Paradise 
Lost. 

From the early "thirties" discussions, incidental criticisms, and 
various helps multiplied in rapid succession. In 1735 William Shenstone, 
whose interests in Milton were rather varied, prepared Remarks on 
Paradise Lost, which, for some reason, have never been published.*' 
Henry Pemberton (1694-1771) exalted Leonidas somewhat at the 
expense of Milton (1738). Birch gathered up in his Life of Milton 
(1738) considerable famous and favorable criticism of Paradise Lost. 
Benson's Letters*^ dealing with Milton's verse, were republished in 
1739. The same year a certain "F. T." attempted to fulfil Addison's 
promise to write on Milton's Borrowing from the Latin and the Greek 
Writers.^^ This public spirited writer invariably commended the 
superiority of Milton over the Ancients. 

Such is the exalted view of William Smith (1711-1787), in his 
Translation of Longinus on the Sublime, which first appeared in 1739.^" 
Besides the Translation, this work contained copious Notes and Obser- 
vations, which are practically a commentory on Paradise Lost from the 
standpoint of Longinus 's conception of the Sublime. Smith constantly, 
and with approval, cited Addison's Critique; but also showed a measure 
of independent critical thought. He never wearied of quoting from 
Paradise Lost the choicest illustrations of those excellencies of style 
recommended by Longinus. "The First Book of Paradise Lost" he 
regarded "a continued Instance of Sublimity." In no sense did Smith 
allow Milton to be inferior to the Ancients ; and there is in his book but 
one line of Milton quoted for censure. Among the points of special in- 
terest, Smith emphasized Milton 's descriptive excellence ; his exalted 
treatment of conjugal love — after the idea of Voltaire, no doubt; and 
his effective portrayal of the Lazar House. Of the last, he said, "We 
startle and groan at this Scene of Miseries in wliicli the whole Race of 
Mankind is perpetually involved." Prom about this time Milton's 
description of social disorder seems to have come into a measure of 
prominence. 

While the nation was buying the second edition of Smith's Trans- 
lation, it might also buy Peck's New Memoirs of Milton and of Cromwell, 
both of which appeared in 1740. These works threw about Paradise Lost 
a sort of Miltonic atmosphere, and incidentally, if not intentionally, corre- 
lated the Poem with the liberal and progressive thought of the time. 

*'Br. Mus. Addit. MS. 28964. "Remarks on P. L., I735-" G. A. Aitken. D. X. B., 
"Shenstone." 

■"Benson's Letters. 1713. Ch. V., p. 164, note 97. 

^"Gent. Mag., July, 1739. 9:359-360. 

■'•"This Trans. (2nd ed., 1740) became the standard work on Longinus in the 
i8th century. 



273] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 181 

Consequent upon the quickened general interest in Paradise Lost, the 
public was furnished in 1741 with a new Verbal Index to the poem. 
This was the fourth such work that had appeared. That by Hume 
(1695), and by Tiekell (1720), have already been noticed. It was not 
noticed, however, that Ricliardsoii added a brief Index to his Notes 
in 1734. 

No one can fail to feel the significant bearing of much of this work 
upon the growing, deepening popularity of Paradise Lost with the 
unlearned masses of the nation. There were those who seemed to feel it 
the part of patriotism to place this national treasure within reach of all 
capacities. Certainly this was the inspiration that produced the Com- 
plete Commentary on Paradise Lost (1744). This volume was the work 
of Dr. James Paterson who imdertook tliis task with abounding enthusi- 
asm. He assured the Reader that "Milton's Paradise Lost, being an 
original in its kind, an Honour to the British Nation, and the prime Poem 
in the world, is justly esteemed and admired by every Englishman, and 
also by the Learned Abroad." But realizing the difficulties that con- 
front his uidearned countrymen in the perusal of this masterpiece, the 
Doctor had copiously, even sympathetically, explained everything,=^ 
significantly adding that ' ' without such a work the Poem is usekss to most 
Readers of it." Evidently, then, the poem was coming into the posses- 
sion of tlie masses, and one naturally wonders how much Paterson may 
have implied in that word "useless." 

Another work, with something of the sama popular designs, ap- 
peared in 1745. This was The State of Innocence and Fall of Man 
described in Milton's Paradise Lost Rendered into Prose — by a Gentle- 
man of Oxford."^ The Monthly Review attacked the publication, along 
with the Rambler and other "pretenders to criticism of Milton," who 
represented "a critical barbarism" not less "destructive to learning" 
than "a second irruption of the Goths and Vandals." The Review 
argued that this ' ' Paraphrastical Version ' ' was unnecessary even for the 
unlearned, for whom the "obscure passages" of Paradise Lost had al- 
ready been explained.''' But the multiplied editions of this prose work 
seem to show that there was still a place for the popularizing perform- 
ance, whicli may have been read mainly as a treatise on some of the 

■'''James Paterson, The full title was A Complete Commentary with Etymolog- 
ical, Explanatory, Critical, and Classical Xotes on Milton's Paradise Lost. Land., 
1744, PP- SI2. 

=-Geo. Smith Green (d. 1762). This work was published, as it seems, under 
varying titles, in 1745, 1746?. 1755, 1756, 1767, I770(L), 1770? (.Aberdeen.) With it 
were the translated Notes of Raymond de St. Maur, and fourteen copperplates. 
See Gent. Mag., June, 1746, 16:332; Cr. Rev., Nov., 1756, 2:357- Green also wrote 
two unacted plays on Oliver Cromwell (1752). 

"Mo. Rev., Dec, 1756, 16:653. 



182 THE MILTON TRADITION [274 

social, political and moral questions that were then confronting the 
nation.'^* 

By the middle of the century there was full preparation already 
made for an extensive work on the part of a judicious critical editor. 
The feeling was strong that the choicest fruitage of these separate critical 
efforts should be carefully garnered into a new edition of Paradise Lost. 
Among those who felt moved by this spirit of the time, was Benjamin 
Stillingfleet (1702-1771), a lover of Milton, and an imitator of his 
sonnets. In the later "forties" he was engaged upon a collection of 
Notes for an edition of Paradise Lost:"^ But this work was abandoned in 
view of an elaborate edition that was soon to appear from the press of 
Tonson and Draper. 

Tliat great work was the first various edition of Paradise Lost (May 
20, 1749), edited by the Rev. Thomas Newton, D.D. (1704-1782), which 
was indeed the first variorum edition of an English classic. The Notes 
were compiled from the earlier critical works, and supplemented by 
original comments from Newton and others.^*" The work was generally 
applauded f and in various modifications became the standard edition 
of Paj-adise Lost for the remainder of the Eighteenth Century. 

After this almost every edition of the poem came to have some 
kind of helpful attachment. J. Callender furnished The First Book of 
Paradise Lost with a Commentary, for Foulis, in Glasgow, 1750. J. 
Marchant collected notes of various authors, including Newton, for 
Walker's two volume edition, in Loudon, 1751. The Paris edition 
(1754) was fiirnished with a Glossary and Index, the former of which 
features appeared in the Dublin edition (1765). A. Donaldson added 
"prefatory characters of the several pieces" to the Poetical Works 
(1762). Jolui Wood produced "a new edition" of Paradise Lost with 
notes variorum in 1765. 

Meantime the Paradise Regained was not entirely neglected, though 
it was never highly exalted. Edward Phillips seems to have spoken 
the voice of all time, when he said that Paradise Regained was "gener- 

^^To this list of commentaries must be added the New Remarks on P. L. in 
R. Richardson's Zoilomastix (1747); and in the Critical Obs. on Shakesf'care by 
John Upton, editor of Spenser, who in his second edition (1748), devoted a whole 
page of the Index to "Milton," and all to Paradise Lost, except three references to 
Samson, and one to the Sonnets. 

==Stillingfleet used a copy of Bentley's original edition (1732), which is now in 
the B'r. Mus., and has "copious MS. notes" by the original owner. 

■■"Among the noted contributors to this work, was Robert Thyer (1709-1781), 
who edited Butler's Remains (1759)- 

■"^'For some reason, the work did not commend itself to Thomas Edwards, who 
blamed "the great people" for the success of this "bad edition." Richardson's 
Correspondenee, III, 11, 24. March 30, and May 8, 1751. 



275] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 183 

ally censured to be much inferior to the other," Milton's jealousy 
notwithstanding.^* In 1732 Richard Meadowcourt (1697-1769) pub- 
lished A Critique of Milton's Paradise Regained. This work, which 
seems to have become the recognized standard commentary on the 
smaller epic, appeared in a second edition (1748). In 1734, Jortin 
claimed that the poem had "not met with the approbation that it 
deserves;" and Warburton regarded this poem and Samson as perfect 
of their kind.^" But the poem was never satisfactory to the readers of 
the major epic."" The best of all these materials, with original matter, 
was collected into Newton's Edition of the Poem (1752), which, with 
the Minor Poems, completed his popular Edition of Milton's Poetical 
Works. 

That these popularizing endeavors were effective is evident in the 
popular reaction to Milton's Epic. Familiarity with Adam and Eve 
was a public nerve upon which the book-trade constantly played in the 
invention of new titles."' It became a requirement, that one must be 
familiar with these exalted personages, or at least affect that familiarity, 
as a matter of fashion. Gray declared "The world — obliged by fashion 
to admire" Milton."- The young gallant, called suddenly away from 
his lady-love in a flower garden, must apologetically declare "himself 
in a worse situation than Adam Banished Paradise," and then state 
the reasons in a sonnet."^ Even Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773), who 
affected an inability to "read Milton through," dared not let this secret 
be known in England."* 

In popular writings, Milton was the common possession of all 
readers. Paradise Lost was quoted, as with the sanction of inspiration, 
on the sacred and ideal relations of husband and wife.*' It was cited 

'^sEdw. Phillips, Letters of State, 1694, p. x.xxi.x. Masson, 6:655. Cr. Rev., 
Feb., 1761. II :i66. 

=!'Both quoted by Birch, Milton (1738), I, p. Ivi. 

«»Cf. An Essay on M's Im. of the Ancs. in his P. L. With some Obs. on the 
P. Regnd. L. 1/41. Mo. Rev., Aug., 1763. 29:106-117. 

^^Adain's Luxury, and Eve's Cookery; or. The Kitchen Garden Displayed. 
(Gent. Mag., May, 1744. 14:288). Cf. also the religious titles in Appendix G, 
especially in paragraph 4. 

'^-Letter to Thomas Warton. Oct. 7, 1757. Works (Grosse, 1884). II, 341 
and 325. The same statement was made in the Mo. Rev., July, 1762. 27:13. cf. 
also Johnson's Life of Milton (Hill). I, 163. 

"^Sonnet. Occasioned by leaving B—x—, July, 1755. Probably by Dr. Powis. 
Pearch, Con. 1783. 3 :298, 299. 

"^Letters, cd. 1S93. II, 559. "Bath, Oct. 4, 1752." To Mr. S. at Berlin. (Letter 
Ixxi). 

«50tt Nuptial Liberty. Univ. Spec, Dec. 18, 1731. No. 167. Cf. also The Gent. 
Mag., June, 1738. 8, 298. 



184 THE MILTON TRADITION [276 

as having superior scientific insight into Pleasure and Pain,"" and as an 
authority in the field of Astronomj'."' The Smugglers in Essex were 
compared to Adam's "Death's Ministers, not men;""' and the war 
' ' apparatus ' ' of The British Mors, to the military equipment of Milton 's 
warring angels;"" while an Allegory on Wit and Beauty carried the 
reader at once to the "myrtle bower" of Eden." "Flirtilla" began her 
Vision while reading Milton's Pandemonium;'^ John Armstrong empha- 
sized Milton's omniscience in The History of Minorca (1752) ;•- and 
the Author of Two Epistles on Happiness (1754) found it prudent 
to mark the lines imitated from MiltonJ^ A few years later, William 
Law (1686-1761), who praised "The immortal words of a Milton or a 
Shakespeare," regarded the prevalence of Paradise Lost in the pulpits 
of the time with a measure of disapproval. In his Humble Address to 
the. Clergy (1761), he said: 

"Instead of the Depth, the Truth and Spirit of the humble Publican, seeking 
to regain Paradise, only by a broken Heart, crying 'God be merciful to me a Sin- 
ner,' the high-bred Classic will live in daily Transports at the enormous sublime 
of a Milton, flying thither, on the unfeathered wings of high sounding Words.""* 

This familiar devotion to Milton was remarkable as a fact of literary 
history. It gathered irresistible force as the decades went by. Against 
it some had attempted to oppose the uncertain religious attitude of 
Milton, which gave rise to a spirited controversy, triumphant of cause 
in favor of the great English poet.^'^ But a more formidable attempt to 
check this popularity gave rise to another controversy, whose spirit of 
defense is ■> monumental tribute to the hold of Milton's Paradise Lost 
upon the mind and heart of the mid-century English people. 

^<^The Chamf>ion, Jan. 19, 1740. 1:200. The Gleaner. iSli. No. 45, p. 394-400. 

"'Thos. Wriglit (1711-1786). Ati Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the 
Universe, founded on the La-ws of Xatiire. 84 pp., 1750?. See Mo. Rev., July, 
1750. 3 ;2l6-2i9. 

"8Gent. Mag., Sept., 1748. 18:407. Cf. P. L., XI, 676. 

"'Joseph Robson. The British Mars. Mo. Rev., May, 1764. 30:399-406. 

''"The Student (1750). I, 351. T/ie Gleaner 1811, II, 22. 

"T/jc Student (1751), II, 381. The Gleaner (1811), No. 66. II, 121-7, 

^-Mo. Rev., Aug. and Sept., 1752, 7:155-160, 205-224. 

"^Mo. Rev., Oct., 1754, 11:309-312. 

'*Wm. Law (1686-1761). Works, London. I/61, reprinted 1893, 9 vols. Vol. 
ix, pp. 48, S3. (P. L., v. 297.) Quoted in Mo. Rev., Dec, 1761, 25:419. Perhaps 
this part of the Serious Call was never very effective. Cf. the sermon on The 
Temptation, by Edward Irving (1792-1834), which makes free use of both Milton's 
Epics, and exalts him as "the great and venerable Master of English song." The 
Collected Writings, edited by the Rev. G. Carlyle. Vol. II, 186-243. 

'''Religious Controversy, Appendix E. 



277] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 185 

In terms of that spirit there was one man in England who, Satan- 
"On the Tree of Life, 



like. 



Sat like a Cormorant 

devising death .... 

This arch-deceiver, and 

Artificer of fraud 

That practised falsehood under saintly shew, 
Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge, 

was the Rev. William Lauder (d. 1771), who "with jealous leer malign, 
eyed askance" the deepening popularity of Milton as a "Sight hateful, 
sight tormenting. ' '^^ 

This Lauder attempted to ruin the high reputation of Milton. The 
attack was made in 1747. The motive was largely a matter of malice 
and personal revenge for the treatment accorded certain of Lauder's 
earlier publications. If the Bentley Controversy was a storm, this 
Lauder affair was a cyclone. First the Nation was startled : then it 
soberly reflected ; and then it wreaked a terrible revenge upon this Forger 
for insulting the name of beloved Milton. 

The visible interest of Lauder in Milton dates back at least to 1732, 
when he translated A Poem of Hugo Grotius on the Sacrament into 
English blank verse. ^' In 1739 Lauder, as was afterwards pointed out, 
gave Milton "a character as high and honorable as ever was bestowed 
upon him by the most sanguine of his admirers.'"* Very soon, however, 
Lauder appeared to be very much enraged against Milton and all his 
admirers. In 1741 there appeared, anonymously, An Essay upon Mil- 
ton's Imitations of the Ancients. This probably gave Lauder a sugges- 
tion for his attack. A further suggestion may have occurred in the fol- 
lowing circumstance. In October, 1746, the Gentleman's Magazine pro- 
posed to print The Beginning of Paradise Lost, with six Latin Trans- 
lations. Three of these (by Ludovicus de Bonneval, M. B(old), and 
"T. P.") were printed in October, and two of them (by "J. C", and 

'«P. L., IV, 194-7, I2I-3, 503-5. 

'^The Christ's Passion of Grotius was Translated, in 1639, by Geo. Sandys 
(1578-1644). This was a kind of academic Bible play, in line with Peele's David 
and Bethsabe (1589), and Samson Agonistes (1671). Schelling, His. Eng. Dra., 
II, 394. Milton's political writings were associated with those of Grotius, by Sir 
Robert Filmer, in his Obs. concerning the Original of Government upon Mr. 
Hobs's Leviathan, Mr. Milton against Salmatius, H. Grotius De Jure Belli., Lon- 
don, 1652. 

''^Johnson's Works, 182$, V, 259n. 



186 THE MILTON TRADITION [278 

J. Trapp, D.D.), in December. The sixth, which probably would have 
been that by William Hog, was not printed.'" This may have suggested 
the materials for Lauder's malicious pen. 

At any rate, in January, 1747, he published the first draft of An 
Essay on Milton's Imitation of the Moderns. (17:24-6). In this Essay 
he startled the Nation, by attempting to show "that Milton's Paradise 
Lost was largely constructed of plagiaristic paraphrases of a Latin 
poem, entitled Sarcotis, by Jacobus Masenius (1654)." The lovers of 
Milton rallied to his defence, and the war of words was waged largely 
through the columns of the Gentleman's Magazine. 

Apprehending that this Essay would "excite no little speculation," 
the editor of the Magazine, Edward Cave, reqiiested Lauder to send 
"a close version of the lines which are said therein to have furnished 
sentiment to Milton." (17:24). In the next issue, "R. A." requested 
"specimens from these authors," and expressed himself as impatiently 
waiting the sequel. (Feb., 17:58). Lauder, who was signing only his 
initials "W. L.", replied to Cave, promising a Pamphlet (17:82). He 
also continued his Essay, giving long extracts from Adamus Exsul, by 
Hugo Grotius (17:82-6). "Miltonicus," however, had less patience. 
He demanded that "W. L." show "tolerable reasons for what he ad- 
vances; but till he does that he must not be surprised if an English 
reader proves somewhat resty in giving up his opinion of Milton's 
genius and fancy. " " Miltonicus ' ' doubted that Milton ever saw Masen- 
ius, and believed Milton in no wise conditioned upon such a performance. 
(17:67-68). With this Letter, the editor declared several other gentle- 
men to be in agreement (17 :68). Because of the wide general interest in 
this controversy. Cave offered a prize for the best Translation of Adamus 
Exsul, Act I, in Miltonic verse, sent in before May-Day.*" Evidently 
the English people were well stirred. The materials contributed for the 
March issue were more than could be handled. Most of them had to be 
excluded because of "long seasonable pieces." But there was a place 
found for the following seasonable lines On W. L.'s Charge against 
Milton (March, 17:145), by "Philo-Milton Petriburgensis" : 

Critics avant! from sacrilege refrain, 

Nor Milton's laurels with rude hands prophane ; 

In vain Detraction seeks to wound his fame, 

Whose lays divine our adoration claim ; 

By no pierian draught inspired to sing, 

"»Gent. Mag., Oct., 1746, 16:548-9, Dec, 16:661. The following references, 
unless otherwise designated, are to this Magazine. 

s»The prize was to be two folio vols, of Du Haldc's Hist, of China or two 
guineas in money (17:86). In June, Cave announced 13 translations. This plan 
was to have been extended to other Acts of the Drama. From these Translations. 
a composite Translation was made, and printed. Feb.. 1749 (19:67-69). 



279] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 187 

"Raptured he drank at Sacred Wisdom's spring ; 
Not Time's approach his deathless numbers fear, 
Bright and more bright thro' each revolving year : 
In paths unknown, untried, alone he trod, 
Of man the teacher, and the bard of God. 

By April, "W. L." had sent to Cave "several extracts from the 
Kev. Mr. Andrew Kamsey's Poemata Sacra, printed in Edinburgh, 
1733," and claimed that Milton borrowed from these his encomium on 
marriage, and other things, which were promised in full in a later 
pamphlet. It was also promised that the Adamics Exsul and the Works 
of Masenius should be made public (17 :189). "G. S." was grateful for 
these discoveries (May, 17:211-3), and indulged in a blank verse trans- 
lation of the Description of Paradise (from Jan., p. 25), one of Lauder's 
favorite passages. The thirteen prize Translations were printed June 
(Note 80 above). "W. B." applauded this work of Lauder, as likely 
to destroy the "superstitious opinions" respecting Milton's exalted per- 
formance, "and not diminish his reasonable regard." The discoveries 
were held only to show how one genius builds upon another in a process 
of perfection. (17:278-9). He suggested that this borrowing may 
account for the inferiority of Paradise Regained. ' ' W. L. ' ' was encour- 
aged to send "a few more passages, amongst inumerable others, from 
Grotius, with parallel ones from Milton." (17:285-6). 

On July 21, Richard Richardson published his Milton No Imitator 
of Masenius. He commended Lauder for declining the promised pamph- 
let, attempted to show that Paradise Lost was begun before Masenius 's 
poem was printed, denied the likeness of many .so called parallels, and 
explained the real similarities by referring both to the influence of 
Homer (17:322-324). The next issue contained a spirited reply from 
Lauder, signed by his full name, in which he proposed to publish the 
Adamus Exsul, with an English version and notes, showing what Mil- 
ton had used (17:404). The Second Act of Adamus Exsul was being 
printed in the Magazine. Lauder was confident. The public was per- 
plexed. Feeling ran high, and some poured forth the Nation's resent- 
ment in verse. *^ 

si"Y". On Some Late .-Itlcinpts To Dcfrccialc Milton. Gent. Mag., Aug., 
1/47. 17:39s. 

To toil for fame asks all the poet's pains : 
And yet how barren is the wreath he gains ! 
Thus Milton, scarce distinguished, bow'd to fate, 
And the dear-purchas'd laurel came too late ! 
Yet in the grave that laurel found its root. 
And flourish'd high, and bore immortal fruit. 
His Muse a thousand imitators fir'd, 



188 THE MILTON TRADITION [280 

Cave, who was to take tlie subscriptions for Lauder's edition of the 
Adamus Exsul, introduced him to Dr. Johnson, who immediately became 
interested in the new discoveries. But this edition was abandoned in 
order that Lauder might perfect a new edition of his Essay on Milton's 
Imitation of the Moderns. As a substitute for the Adamus, perhaps, 
Lauder proposed (Nov. 17:530) to make, by translation and expurga- 
tion, a Latin school-book from Paradise Lost. 

His Muse by distant nations lov'd, admir'd. 
In her all Homer's — Virgil's beauties shone. 
And Britain call'd the masterpiece her own. 

With pedant zeal, a modern Bavius cries, 
"Milton a genius! — how encomium lies! 
From foreign shores his boasted plans he drew, 
With borrow'd wings, like Icarus, he flew I 
Like sly Prometheus stole the heav'nly ray. 
That made his man, and warm'd the living clay : 
Too long the wretch has fiU'd the throne of fame. 
Unjust usurper! with a spurious claim! 
Not his, the sacred page the boaster writ, 
A Jesuit* taught him art, a Dutchman** wit; 
My pen the the shameful plagiary shall show. 
And blast the bays that bind his guilty brow !'" 

Enervate critic ! — cease thy fruitless rage. 

Nor touch with impious hands the hallow'd page ! 

Bury'd a-new in learning's rev'rend dust, 

Let good Masenius unmolested rust ; 

Let Grotius the Civilian's honour boast. 

But as a Poet — let his name be lost ! 

These were like swallows, when the skies are clear 

Who skim the earth and rise to disappear ! 

Like Jove's own bird, our Milton took his flight 

To worlds unknown, and pierced the realms of light ; 

Tho' heav'n, all-wise, corporeal sight deny'd ; 

Internal day the lesser loss supply'd ; 

Disdaining succour, and obliged to none 

His genius beam'd expansive like the sun : 

And till that glorious orb shall cease to shine. 

Till sick'ning nature feel her last decline. 

Truth shall preserve great Milton's honour'd page 

From Time's encroachment, and from Envy's rage ; 

Shall blast all vain attempts to wound his fame. 

And with new glories grace his honour'd name. 

*Masenius. **Grotius. 



281] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 189 

Meantime the interest deepened, not without suspicion of Lauder's 
integrity. "C. B." published a spirited Vindication of Milton (Sept.)- 
He admired the general impartial attitude of Cave, but could easily wish 
that Lauder had been more roughly handled. He also suspected the 
5;ecrecy of Lauder's MSS., and charged him with a spirit of envy 
(17:423-4). This charge was made in verse by "W. K.," in November 
(17:538). "Philo-Miltonus" (Oct. 18) contributed a defence of Mil- 
ton against Lauder's reply to "R. R." (in July), styled Lauder 'Male- 
pertius', and charged him with a manifestly dishonest design to ruin the 
character of Milton. This contribution was not published until Febru- 
ary (18:67-8). In November, R. Richardson published his Zoilomastix: 
or a Vindication of Milton from the Charges of W. Lauder (London). 
He was confident that Lauder was guilty of malicious mischief. An 
English Translation of the speech of Satan in Masenius was sent to Cave 
from Louvain (Nov., 'Contents') and was published in December, over 
the name of J. Berington, who declared this question one that "con- 
cerned the whole nation." (17:567). 

Not so much was published in 1748 and 1749. In January, 1748, 
Peter Whalley was quoted (18:25, 114) as considering Lauder's charges 
against Milton extreme, if not indeed ridiculous.*- Furius; or, a modest 
attempt towards the history of the famous W. L., critic and thief- 
catcher, with respect to Milton, appeared in August. "This was a strong 
invective against Lauder, but allows him to be a great Latinist." 
(18-384). Among the best contributions of its kind was a piece of 
ingenious work in verse by John Byrom (1692-1763). The piece is en- 
titled "Verses, Intended To Have Been Spoken At The Breaking Up 
of the Free Grammar-Sckool in Manchester, in the year 1748, When 
Lauder's Charges of Plagiarism Upon Milton Engaged the Public At- 
tention."^^ The Master of the School, in a poetic address, laid the 
question before the house. The seven "Lads" successively responded in 
their poetic Deferences of Milton. The situation is very well handled, 
and as an expression of popular contempt for Lauder the piece is 
superb. 

But the comparative silence of 1748 and most of the following year 
was only a temporary cessation of hostilities. The public was still per- 
plexed. The scholars were busy. Late in 1749 the conflict was openly 
renewed. The trumpet call to arms was the announcement, in Decem- 
ber, of An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his 
Paradise Lost. Lauder had made out his charges in completed form, and 
had them "elegantly printed." On his title-page he placed the words, 
' ' Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme, ' ' which sound in this con- 

^-An Enquiry into the learning of Shakespeare. 

*3John Byrom (1692-1763). Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 15:209-210. 



190 THE MILTON TRADITION [282 

nection like a defiance of Fate. The Essay had additional weight in this 
new form from the fact that Dr. Johnson wrote the "Preface," and 
probably had a hand in the "Postscript," which gave considerable 
attention to tlie Milton Family.** 

The Monthly Review merely announced the publication, with a 
favorable comment on the English Translation (Jan., p. 239). But the 
Gentleman's Magazine gave two ironical reviews of the Essay (20:33-4, 
155-7), which were filled with indignation. J. Kirkpatrick, in the 
Preface to his Sea-Picce (Jan., 1750), fell "heavily on the late charge 
of Plagiarism, brought against the renowned Milton." He thought 
"there is something not merely little, but even absurd and immoral in 
this injustice to the memory of that sublime author. ' '*'' 

Feeling was intense, but no cue was getting at a settlement of the 
matter. "Hermolaus Barbarus" suggested that the whole tribe of 
poets from Homer on down may have borrowed from Milton (20:224), 
the small question of chronology being unimportant. Some friend of 
Lauder contributed forty lines of verse, exalting him as the champion 
of Truth, standing for argument, without fear of praise or blame 
(20:231). Lauder was still confident, and published a small volume of 
Latin Poems, in which he tjuoted eighteen poets supposed to have been 
used by Milton. Dr. Johnson was actively concerned in this publica- 
tion, and the public was filled with excitement. The accuracy of these 
quotations was suspected; and Lauder threatened to publish the poems 
in four volumes (20:336). This proposal called forth Verses, praising 
the enterprise (20:422). Lauder's charge was reduced to a mere com- 
plaint that Milton did not make foot-note references to his sources. It was 
also suggested that Lauder make a similar attack upon Spenser who was 
growing too popular of late. "J. M." compared Milton's use of Ger- 
man authors to the extracting of sunbeams from cucumbers (20:245). 
Such out-bursts of feeling, though significant, did not solve the situation. 
But the end was near at hand. In June (1750), "C. R.", with the 
prophetic solemnity of Daniel before Belshazzar, confidently affirmed 
that Lauder should suffer for this insolence (Dan. 5:25-31). This warn- 
ing was happily seconded by "L. M.", who compared Lauder to Bent- 
ley in this respect (20:258-9, 269). Already the mills of Fate were 
grinding. Warburton declared Lauder 's Essay a ' ' most knavish book. ' '^^ 
In January of this year R. Richardson had informed the booksellers that 
the passages cited by Lauder were not in the MSS. of the poems, but 

»*Johnson's Works, 1825, v, 244-248. See Gent. Mag., Dec, 1749, 19:563. A 
strong appeal is made in this Lauder Essay publication, and an advertisement for 
subscriptions is added, in behalf of Mrs. Eliz. Foster, Milton's Granddaughter. 
See Appendix J. 

^^The Sea-Piece: a Poem. London, 1750. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1750, Art. xciv. 

^^NichoVs Lit. Illus., II, 177. 



283] CONTKOVEBSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 191 

Cave thought that there was some mistake, and did not publish the 
Letter until December. John Bowie (1725-1788) had also noted these 
facts. About the middle of November, John Douglas, Bishop of Salis- 
bury, (1721-1807), published his Milton Vindicated from Lauder's 
Charge of Plagiarism, and Lauder detected of Forgery. In announcing 
this revelation, even the impartial Cave could not refrain from adding 
that Lauder had "admitted the charge." (20:528). Douglas showed 
that Lauder had interpolated passages of W. Hog's Translation of Mil- 
ton (1690) into the other poems, and then had cited these passages as 
Milton's soui'ces. That was all. 

But that was enough. Dr. Johnson compelled Lauder to acknow- 
ledge his crime, and dictated for him (Dec. 20) an apology in A Letter 
to the Rev. Mr. Douglas, Occasioned by his Vindication of Milton (pub. 
1751 ).*' Lauder added some matters, attempting to explain the whole 
affair as a practical joke, aimed at the blind worshippers of Milton. 
But the explanation was not accepted. Already the booksellers had dis- 
owned him, and brought out an edition of his Essay "as a curiosity of 
fraud and interpolation." (20:535-6). Lauder was ruined. He hung 
about England for a time, published some Latin works (1753), and his 
Vindication of King Charles I. (1754). In the latter publication, he 
severely abused Milton, Douglas, and Johnson. A Review said that he 
seemed "absolutely to have declared war against all decency, and even 
common-sense."*^ After a time he left England, and died in disgrace 
(1771).*' 

^''Johnson's Works. 1825, v. 249-271. Johnson was exonerated in the eyes of 
the public. One wonders if this affair was the cause of his early paper on Repent- 
ance, which he closed with six lines from P. L., x, 1087-92. {Rambler, no, April 
6, i/Si. Works, 1835, 1 :5i8.) The Nation forgave the Doctor, but did not soon 
forget his connection with the affair. Arthur Murphy (1727-1805) lamented this 
fact, in his Essay on the Life & Genius of S. Johnson (1792). Nathan Drake 
(1766-1836) considered this "the most extraordinary literary imposture that the 
world ever witnessed," and Johnson's connection therewith "the most unfortunate 
occurrence of his life." {Lit. Life of Dr. Johnson. Essays, Biog., Crit.. Hist,, 
1809, 4:315-328.) 

88M0. Rev., Feb., 1754, 10:145-6. 

s^Lauder's name became a term of scorn and a by-word in literature. Robert 
Lloyd wrote his Progress of Envy, as an expression of indignation against Lauder 
(1751), Trib. 94. Verses Occd. by Mr. Warburton's Late Ed. of Mr. Pope's Works 
(1751) would like to sentence this editor "to study epic under Lauder." "S. S. S." 
versified the comparison between The Bee and Milton Convicted of Stealing (Gent. 
Mag., Nov., 1752, 22:529). Furius (p. 189 above), probably the work of Mr. Hen- 
derson, a bookseller, was printed, with changes appropriate to the "Thief-catcher, 
who has so eminently distinguished himself by his laudable attack on the great 
Milton" (Mo. Rev., Apr., 1754, end). The Gent. Mag. completed its original plan 



192 THE MILTON TRADITION [284 

One good arising from this affair was the sanity that it contributed 
to Miltonie interests. After all, Paradise Lost did not fall from the 
Heavens, nor was Milton without his literary relationships. The Nation 
needed its feet once more placed on solid ground as to these matters. 
Furthermore, the effect of the whole stir was to stimulate the general 
interest in Milton. This whole controversy was really a study in the 
probable sources of Milton's great work. Lauder inaugurated the busi- 
ness with a summary of what had been done in this particular field of 
study. The contributions that he made were not inconsiderable, and 
the stimulation that he gave in this direction lasted throughout the 
century. 

Meantime other lines of interest were also quickened. The re-actions 
to this controversy naturally followed certain definite lines. The defeat 
of Lauder left Milton, in the national confidence, high and unassailable. 
More calmly then the Nation became interested in Milton's sources, — 
a line of study which broadened into the translation, publication, and 
popularity of kindred literary products of other times and other lands."" 
This widening interest probably exercised an influence, not yet realized, 
upon certain literary revivals connected with the Romantic Movement. 
There was another impulse which led to a re-assertion and amplification, 
for the multiplied readers of Milton, of his intrinsic literary values. A 
third line of interest arose as a result of all these circumstances. Having 
become the familiar possession of all the nation, Paradise Lost was used 
as the most familiar source of illustrative materials available for a vast 
range of discussions. 

In the words of Goldsmith, "the subject of Paradise Lost (was) 
reverenced with almost universal assent." The nation would "purchase 
a warranted original copy of the worst verses Milton ever wrote, at ten 
times the price which the original copy of the Paradise Lost brought 
him."" Such enthusiastic confidence was connected closely, perhaps, 
with the solid merits of Milton, emphasized as a result of the Lauder 
controversy. It seemed to be the ambition of criticism to make those 

of printing the Latin Trs. of the opening of P. L., using that of Hog, of Dobson, 
and a new one contributed for this purpose. (20: Dec, 1750.) A new edition of 
Masenius "for the satisfaction of the curious" was published 1754. The Life of 
Hugo Grotius appeared the same year. Milton no Plagiary, was reprinted in 1756. 
HoUis made a summary of the Lauder outrage upon Milton, in his edition of 
Toland's Life of Milton (1761, p. i26n). Nor was Dr. Douglas forgotten. In 
Goldsmith's Retaliation, and in the Supplement thereto, Douglas figures conspicu- 
ously in his detective capacity (1774). (Chalmers, Eng. Pts., 16:498-501. Gent. 
Mag., Aug., 1778.) 

9"Appendix F. 

^nVorks (J. W. M. Gibbs), iv, 290, 362. Review of The Epigoniad. Mo. Rev., 
Sept., I7S7- 



285] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 193 

merits understood as never before. It is interesting to observe how much 
of this criticism indulged in psychology, attempting to unfold the mind 
of Milton, and of his various characters. 

While the Lauder controversy was still raging, John Hughes pub- 
lished the Works of Spencer (1750) with An Essay on Allegorical 
Poetry. He closely correlated the minds of Spenser and Milton, in order, 
it seems, to exalt the latter 's "exquisite fancy and skill" in the use of 
Allegory.^- Dr. Johnson, after the manner of Addison, attempted 
(1751) a series of Rambler papers in Criticism of Milton's Versification. 
Naturally enough, these papers condemned some things essential to 
effective blank verse, and Milton's general indifference to embellishment, 
and regarded Milton's verse as an unsuccessful imitation of Homer 
and Virgil.^^ The general question of Imitation came in for extended 
discussion at the hands of Richard Hurd, in his Discourse on that 
subject (1751). He found Milton's larger interests and successes to 
arise from his success in drawing upon "the genuine treasures of na- 
ture," which are the common property of the Ancients.** 

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) discussed with Lady Bradshaigh 
(1752), at some length, the probable motive which Milton attributed to 
Eve in her temptation of Adam.'*^ Joseph Warton, who became, at the 
request of Johnson, a contributor to The Adventurer in 1753,^* wrote a 
popular paper for that periodical on Blemishes in the Paradise Lost, 
which gave a total impression more of praise than of blame.®' The 

^~The Works of Spenser. 6 vols. Lond., 1750. I, pp. xxi-xxii, &c. 

^^Rambler, Nos. 86, 88, 90, 92, 96. On Sats. between Jan. 12, and Feb. 9, 1751. 
Works, 1825, I, 398-442. 

9*Hurd's Discourse upon Imitation (1751) was appended to his ed. of Horace 
(1753) as a Dissertation on Poetical Imitation. (Mo. Rev., Feb., 1758, 18:114-125.) 
He handled two questions, (i) "Whether what we commonly take for Imitations 
may not, with probability enough, for the most part, be accounted for from general 
causes." (2) "Whether, in the case of confessed imitations, any certain and neces- 
sary conclusions hold to the disadvantage of the natural Genius of the imitator." 
He felt that Milton needed not to imitate, but was able to draw, with the ancients, 
upon the original treasures of nature. 

'^Richardson's Correspondence, vi, 214-225, Nov., 1752. 

^ojohnson's Letters (March 8, 1753). Boswell's Life (Hill), I. 253. Warton 
wrote 24 papers. 

^''The Adventurer, Oct. 23, 1753. Brit. Essayists, 1823, loi, vol. 21. 

Warton regarded the description of Eden (Bk. 4), and the battle of the 
angels (Bk. 6) too much of the land of Romance to have "relative beauty as pic- 
tures of nature." "I think the sublimity of this genius much more visible in the 
first appearance of the fallen angels; the debates of the infernal peers; the passage 
of Satan through the dominion of Chaos and his adventure with Sin and Death ; 
the mission of Raphael to Adam; the conversations between Adam and his wife; 



194 THE MILTON TRADITION [286 

"Night Pieces" of Milton (Paradise Lost IV), Homer, and Shakespeare, 
were compared, and correlated with the writings of Young and Col- 
lins.^" Deane Swift (d. 1783) devoted a section to Milton (1755):™ 
and Thomas Warton laid considerable emphasis upon the values of Mil- 
ton and their relations to popular taste, ^"^ and took Dryden severely 
to task for wanting "a jast idea of Milton's greatness." 

Two unique productions in criticism appeared in the sixth decade 
of the century, one favorable, the other unfavorable, to Milton. The 
first of these was Joseph Warton 's Essay on the Writings and Genius 
of Pope (1756) ; which, because of its constant comparisons, was almost 
as much an "Essay on Paradise Lost." This Essay was a very pro- 
nounced attack upon the pseudo-classical school of poets, and did much 
to identify clearly and definitely tlie multiplied Miltonie interests with 
the advancing sentiments of Romanticism. 

Warton held that "our English poets may be disposed in four different classes 
and degrees." (i) Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, and at some distance Otway 
and Lee. (2) Dryden, Donne, Denham, Cowley, Congreve. (3) Those character- 
ized by wit and elegance of taste, Prior, Parnell, Swift, Fenton. (4) The mere 
versifiers, Pitt, Sandys, Fairfax, Brown, Buckingham, Lansdown. His problem 
was then to place Pope in this classification. Every one of these classes, except 
the first, was attacked by the critic of this work.i"' 

Warton regarded sublimity and the pathetic essential to great poetry. He ex- 
tolled blank verse, and e.xalted Milton above Pope in respect to the passions. He 
believed the Italian models of Shakespeare and Milton superior to the French 
models, and regarded the Paradise Lost as better than Voltaire's Henriade. He 



the creation; the account which .\dam gives of his first sensations, and of the 
approach of Eve from the hand of her Creator ; the whole behavior of Adam and 
Eve after their first transgression ; and the prospect of the various states of the 
world, and history of man exhibited in a vision to .^dam." 

He censured Milton's inconsistency respecting Adam's ignorance at various 
times; his failure to describe elaborately the Tree of Life; his failure to satisfy 
expectations of a battle between Satan and the guardian angel (iv, end); "Among 
innumerable beauties," Warton thought, "the most transcendent is the speech of 
Satan at the beginning of the 9th book;" which Warton is more particular to 
emphasize because it was omitted by Addison. 

"sjohn Gilbert Cooper (1723-1769). Letters on Taste (Letter vii), ed. 1755. 
This work was praised by Johnson. Cf. also a Review of Letters on Taste, in the 
Mo. Rev., Jan. 1762, 26:13, where Milton and Shakespeare are "beyond any of 
their modern rivals" in ability to portray the human heart, and to describe "every 
object in nature." 

^^Essay on the Life, Writings, and Character of Jonathan Swift (i755)- Sec- 
tion XV. 

^""Obs. on the Fairy Queene of Spenser (1754), vol. H, Section x, 107-8. This 
was quoted in the Cr. Rev., Sept., 1763, 16:225. 

i<»Mo. Rev., June, 1756, 14:528-554; July, 15:52-78. 



287] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 195 

finally consented to allow Pope "a place next to Milton, and just above Dryden." 
Wanton's second volume did not appear until 1782. Meantime there had appeared, 
from the pen of Percival Stockdale, An Enquiry Into the Nature and Genuine 
Laws of Poetry; including a particular Defence of the U'ritings, and Genius of 
Mr. Pope (1778). This was recognized at once as a reply to Dr. Warton. The 
Doctor had affirmed that no "process of critical chemistry" could reduce a passage 
of Paradise Lost to the low levels of tameless prose. Among other things, Stock- 
dale attempted to prove the contrary by a prose rendering of certain passages of 
Milton. Of course all this controversy furnished materials for popular entertain- 
ment in contemporary criticism.i"- 

The other curious product of the critic's art suggests, in several 
respects, a re-action against these views of Warton. The work is known 
in history as The Poetical Scale (1758), and was probably the work of 
Goldsmith.'"^ The Scale was not in itself very much adverse to Mil- 
ton.'"* Nor was the author's conception of versification wanting in 

'"^Cr. Rev., Feb., 1782, 53:97-108; Aug., 1778, 46:120-4. 

io3Published in The Lit. Mag., Jan., 1758. Works of O. Goldsmith (J. W. M. 
Gibbs), iv, 417-428. The invention of the poetical scale was, however, attributed by 
J. Debrett (d. 1822) to Akenside. Debrett printed two imitations of this Scale; 
Scale of Modern Beauty, and Scale of Modern Talent (both 1792). In the latter, 
Burke, Sheridan, Cowper, and Tickell were highest among 22. (An Asylum for 
Fugitive Pieces, 1795, 4:70-72.) 

^"^The Poetical Scale (1758). 

The idea of the Scale is to grade the poets on a basis of 20 as perfect, under 
the four heads of Genius, Judgment, Learning, and Versification. 

Genius Judgment Learning Versification 

Chaucer (1340-1400) 16 12 10 14 

Spenser (iS52-i599) '8 12 14 18 

Drayton (1563-1631) 10 n 16 13 

Shakespeare (1564-1616) 19 14 i4 i9 

Johnson (B?) (1573-1637) 16 18 17 8 

Cowley (1618-1667) 17 I- 15 17 

Waller (1618-1687) 12 12 10 _ 16 

Fairfax ( 1635) 12 12 14 ' 13 

Otway (1653-1685) 17 10 10 17 

Milton (1608-1674) 18 16 17 18 

Lee (1653-1692) 16 ID 10 15 

Dryden (1631-1700) 18 16 17 18 

Congreve (1673-1729) 15 16 14 I4 

Vanbrugh (1664-1726) 14 IS I4 10 

Steele (1672-1729) 10 15 I3 10 

Addison (1672-1719) 16 18 17 I7 

Prior (1688-1721) 16 16 15 17 

Swift (1667-1745) 18 16 16 16 



196 THE MILTON TRADITION [288 

truth and liberality/"' But the Miscellaneous Thoughts on English 
Poets, which formed the Sequel to the numerical part, was not so favor- 
able. The Sequel is concerned almost entirely with the comparison of 
Milton as a poet (on the basis of Paradise Lost) with Shakespeare. The 
criticism of Milton was delivered in the same severe spirit of political 
animosity as that which characterized the later Life of Milton by Dr. 
Johnson."" Naturally enough, therefore, this Scale was afterwards at- 
tributed to that eminent biographer, as a part of his "deliberate 
malice.'"*" 

An attempt to advance liberalism at the expense of pseudo-classical 
views, applauded by contemporary criticism, was made in the very pop- 
ular Dialogues of the Dead (1760), by Geo. Lord Lyttelton (1709-1773), 
whose sympathies with Milton were strong and various. In Dialogue 







Genius 


Judgment 


Learning 


Versify. 


Pope 


(1688- 1 744) 


18 


18 


IS 


19 


Thomson 


(1700-1748) 


16 


16 


14 


17 


Gay 


(1683-1732) 


14 


16 


14 


16 


Butler 


(1612-1680) 


17 


16 


14 


16 


Beau-FIetch 




14 


16 


16 


12 


Hill 


(1684-1750) 


16 


12 


13 


17 


Rowe 


(1673-1718) 


14 


16 


15 


16 


Farquhar 


(1678-1707) 


15 


16 


10 


10 


Garth 


(1660-1718) 


16 


16 


12 


16 


Southern 


(1660-1741) 


15 


IS 


11 


14 


Hughes 


(1677-1720) 


IS 


16 


13 


16 



105" Versification is not only that harmony of numbers which renders a com- 
position, whether in rhyme or blank verse, agreeable to the ear. but a. just connec- 
tion between the expression and the sentiment, resulting entirely from the energy 
of the latter, and so happily adapted that they seem created for that very purpose, 
and not to be altered but for the worse." 

^""li this is the work of Goldsmith, his spirit must have undergone a rapid 
change in respect to Milton. In the Memoirs of M. de Voltaire (i7S9), Goldsmith 
seems to cite with approval Voltaire's exaltation of Milton Furthermore, he holds 
that the Henriade "sinks infinitely below Milton, yet it will be sufficient to give its 
author immortality." (Works, ed. Gibbs, 4:3i-3S-) In Th<: Citizen of the World 
(1762), Letter XL, Goldsmith praised blank verse very highly. Perhaps the real 
conviction of the author was indicated in Letter XHI of the Citiccn of the World. 
Therein he found, in Poet's Corner in Westminster .Abbey, Shakespeare, Milton, 
Prior, and Drayton. Drayton was "never heard of before." The other three were 
allowed their places unquestioned. The discourse was concerned with Pope's ab- 
.sence. The author attributed this to a want of appreciation of his excellency, and 
to personal hate which obscured that excellence. ( Works, Murray, lS,'i4, vol. H.) 

'"'Johnson denied any connection with this Scale. Jas. Prior, Life of O. Gold- 
smith, 1837, L 233-234. 



289] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 197 

XIV, he had Pope and Boileau to discuss the "Epick Poet Milton." 
Boileau was represented as confident that Longinus would have pre- 
ferred Milton to Homer on the grounds of sublimity. Pope replied: 
' ' The bright and excessive blaze of poetical fire, which shines in so many 
parts of Paradise Lost, will hardly permit the dazzled eye to see its 
faults." Pope proposed to explain the early unpopularity of Paradise 
Lost on the grounds of politics ; but Boileau considered that the Nation 
had made Milton good amends.'"* 

After these Dialogues, there were two other popularizing perform- 
ances in criticism. The next year (1761), "William Massey published 
Remarks upon Milton's Paradise Lost, historical, geographical, critical, 
philological and explanatory. The work was severely censured as worth- 
less, by the Monthly Review, and praised for its public spirit by the 
Critical Revieiv. Massey had printed separately Newton's Notes, for 
economy's sake, since "Paradise Lost, in some form or other, is in most 
people's hands.""** The other work was A Familiar Explanation of 
Milton, held to be of small value."" John Scott (1730-83), of Amwell, 
also prepared "strictures" on Milton and others sometime prior to 
1776."! 

This mid-century transitional period gave considerable attention to 
certain lines of study that had a more or less direct bearing upon litera- 
ture. The period was essentially one of preparation. The materials 
and dominant spirit of literature were not without serious consideration. 
Much of poetry itself rose little above the level of experimentation. The 
dictionary, the grammar, the formal treatise on composition, eloquence, 
and criticism, were typical products of the time. Perhaps the most 
discussed literary form was the epic. But opinion was unsettled. Half- 
formulated Komantic tendencies were rapidly undermining the strong-, 
holds of the classical faction. Among the few things about which there 
was little difference of opinion, was Milton's magnificence in Paradise 
Lost. Because of its many points of sympathetic contact, and its com- 
mon familiarity, this poem entered into almost every form of thought, 
and fastened its liold more firmly upon the national mind, and heart, 
and life. 

Even Dr. Johnson did not escape this permeating influence of 

^'^^Misc. Works, 1776, II. 196-7. The Dialogues were previously published in 
1760, and 1765. Cf. Cr. Rev., May, 1760, 9:390-3, and June, p. 494 (Mo. Cat., 30). 

i''*'Mo. Rev.. Appndx, 1761, 25:497-8. Cr. Rev., May, 1762, 13:433. 

""Rev. Wm. Dodd (1729-1777). "One half of the book at least is filled with 
Mr. .'\ddison's Critique .... a kind of plagiarism much practiced." (Cr. Rev., 
May, 1762, 13:433.) "Alas! poor Milton! who knows but thou niayst yet be trans- 
formed into a spelling-book!" (Mo. Rev., June, 1762, 26:478. ■) 

'''.Anderson, Brit. Poets, 11:723. 



198 THE MILTON TRADITION [290 

Milton's Epic. In his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), 
which is itself remotely connected with the Eomantic appeal to first 
principles, he drew 7.8% of his literary illustrations from Milton."- 
The classical Burke illuminated his ideas of the Sublime and the Beauti- 
ful (1756) from this same exalted source."" James Moor, discussing 
the Influence of Philosophy upon the Fine Arts, could find nothing 
better with which to compare the ideal beauty of Morality as treated 
by Socrates and Euripides, than the grace and beauty of Milton's Eve."* 

The Epic of Milton was guarded with zealous care. William Wilkie 
(1721-1772), whose Miltonic interests dated at least as far back as his 
student days, was taken to task for re-asserting some old views about 
Paradise Lost. He said "the machinery overshadowed the human char- 
acters, and that the heroes of the poem are all of the immortals." This 
he attempted to justify by references to the irregularity of the poem, 
and by affirming it tragic in plot and epic in dress and machinery."'' 
With consummate spirit, a French critic, for his contempt of "our 
Milton" as an epic poet, was branded with stupidity and ignorance."" 
Perhaps this resentment was what gave rise to the caution of R. Keding- 
ton (1760). "Some," he said, "have not scrupled to prefer Milton to 
the Grecian and Roman Bards ; and whosoever at this time ventures to 
cast at his Paradise Lost, must whisper his criticism with caution.""' 
The Art of Poetry on a Nciv Plan, which introduced the method of 
mixing precepts with examples, condemned other poets as not worthy 
to appear as authorities with Milton, Dryden, Pope, Thomson, Akenside, 
&c."« 

Lord Karnes, in order to illustrate ten chapters in his Elements of 
Criticism (1762), drew more or less heavily upon "our incomparable 
Milton.""^ Daniel Webb (1719-1798), in his Remarks on the Beauties 

ii2johnson drew from Shakespeare 15.6%, Dryden 9.2%, Milton 7.8%, Addi- 
son 4.3%, Pope 3.5%, Spenser 2.9%. This estimate is based upon an actual count 
of almost 10,000 consecutive examples. In this count the King James Bible would 
rank, perhaps, between Addison and Milton. 

ii^Burke quoted only P. L. and .iUegro, and these in the ratio of 4 to i. 

i"Jas. Moor, LL.D. (1712-1779). Essays; Read at a Literary Society. Essay 
I. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1760, 22:107-118. P. L., 8:482-9. 

^^^Preface to The Epigoniad (1757). Anderson. Br. Pts., vol. xi, pp. ix, xvii, 5. 
Answered in An Essay on the Epigoniad, Wherein the Author's Abuse of Milton 
is examined. Edinburgh, 1757. 

^'^«Tableaux tires de I'lliads, de I'Odysscc d'Hoiucrc. ct de I'Eneide de Virigile; 
avec des observations generates sur le costume. Cr. Rev., Sept., 1757, 4:263-264. 

ii'R. Kedington (d. 1760). Dissertation on the Iliad of Homer (i759)- Mo. 
Rev., Feb., 1760, 22:118-128. 

"'Compiled by John Newbery ( 1713-1767"). Revised by Goldsmith. Com- 
mended, Cr. Rev., May, 1762, 13:429-430. 

iisRenry Home (1696-1782). Ed. 1785. 2 vols. Edinburgh. 



291] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 199 

of Poetry (1762), and later in the Observations on the Correspondence 
between Poetry and Music (1769), reveled in Paradise Lost; in the 
former, because of his owai special bias for blank verse ; and in the 
latter, because Milton had exhausted the ability of the English language 
to reach the sweetness of sound, or dignity of motion in the Greek 
measures.*-" Edward Watkinsou allowed that "Exact propriety, just 
thoughts, correct elocution, polished numbers, may have been discerned 
in a thousand: but this poetical fire, this vivida vis anirni, (found) in 
very few, in Milton, glows like a furnace, kept up to an uncommon 
fervour, by the force of art." "When Milton appeared, the pride of 
Greece was humbled." "Our language sunk under Milton (unable to 
convey a just idea of the force and fire of his genius, the sublimity of 
his flights, and the strength of his imagination)."'-' 

Hugh Blair (1718-1800), whose sympathies with the liberals in 
literature were rather pronounced, seemed to regard Paradise Lost as 
the very embodiment of that freedom essential to literary greatness. He 
said, "Milton has chalked out for himself a new and very exti-aordinary 

road in poetry The subject which he has clioseu suited the 

daring sublimity of his genius. It was a subject for which Milton alone 
was fitted and in the conduct of it he has shown a stretcli both of 
imagination and invention which is perfectly wonderful. . . . Milton's 
great and distinguishing excellence is his sublimity. In this he perhaps 
excells Homer. Milton possesses more of a calm and amazing grand- 
eur. "'-- 

This note of independent individualism, the exaltation of genius 
above all laws, was even more definitely sounded in connection with Dr. 
Thos. Leland's Dissertation on the Principles of Human Eloquence 
(1764). It was stoutly affirmed that the difference between Milton and 
Blackmoi-e is not a matter of principles, but of execution. "The fine 
arts have no rule but genius to direct them." Milton and Shakespeare 
were cited as proof that even antiquity may be excelled.'-^ 

From these last citations it will appear that Milton has lost noth- 
ing of that high rank which he earlier enjoyed, and that he lacks nothing 
of being in the forefront of the rising opposition to the pseudo-classical 

i^^Cr. Rev., May, 1762, 13:401-5. Mo." Rev., Nov., 1769, 41:321-8. 

^-^An Essay on Criticism. This work was published in separate Parts, and 
received especially favorable notice in the Cr. Review, each Part being the first 
article in the issue in which it was reviewed. Part I (Jan., 1761) ; II, (Mar., 
1763) ; III (July. 1763) ; IV (Jan., 1764) : V (July, 1764) ; VI (Jan., 1765). 

'"Lectures on' Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, ed. 1814, sect, xliv, pp. 503-6. Cf. 
also Lectures ii, iii, iv, xvi, xl, xlii. 

'^^Thos. Leland, D.D. (1722-1785). A Dissertation. Cr. Rev., July, 1764, 
18:10-16. A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Leland. In which (his) Principles of 
Eloquence arc criticised. Cr. Rev., Nov., 1764, 18:321-331. 



200 THE MILTON TRADITION [292 

school. It only remains to be shown that the interest in blank verse 
during this period was no less decisively in favor of popular acceptance 
and advancement. 

Verse criticism, during this period, presented two rather distinct 
lines of discussion, both of which involved the metrical qualities of 
Milton. The one approached verse from the structural standpoint, and 
concerned itself mainly with the laws that governed the making of 
"good verses." The other approached the subject from the standpoint 
of poetic effect, and concerned itself mainly with the problems of how 
best effects may be obtained. This is about the same as saying that one 
class of critics measured excellence by regard to poetic form ; the other, 
by regard to poetic contents and effects. 

The former of these classes of critics contended mainly for that kind 
of poetic excellence that was begun by Denham and Waller, improved 
by Dryden, and perfected by Pope. Probably "the sovereignty of the 
couplet was doomed" by 1726;^-* but the force of its authority was long 
felt in the criticism which it inspired. True to the spirit of the pseudo- 
classical school, this class of critics began by laying down a priori defi- 
nitions of what poetry, or verse, should be. They had no serious thought 
of any historical appeal for their conceptions, which were merely pre- 
conceived notions with only a measure of truth in them. Verse was 
this, or that, or something else, which meant usually that it was regular 
mathematical heroic measure, heightened into poetry by some special 
quality, as tlie affinitj' of the line with musical qualities. To these arbi- 
trary conceptions all verse must conform, or else it was bad. Every- 
where the structural basis of poetry was regularity. This, at least, is 
the case in the beginning of this period. But this structural basis is 
broadened, by recognition of poetic facts, until the two lines of criticism 
begin to meet in such critics as Karnes and Webb (1762). It was this 
constant coming together of the two views that gave special significance 
to blank verse as the poetical vehicle of Romanticism. 

To these formalists in the beginning of this period, belonged the 
work of "slashing Bentley," who murdered Milton in the person of a 
fabulou>s Editor. Only less barbarous was that criticism of Milton 
which arose upon the appearance of Glover's Lconidas (1737). This 
poem was in blank verse, but monotonously "regular." Herein lay its 
excellence, as then viewed by some critics. An "old man," who placed 
his Homer next his Bible, and Virgil and Milton next his Homer, con- 
tributed a paper in praise of Lenoidas. First of all, he was "surprised" 
that he could understand the language of the poem, "which, for a 
writer of blank verse, is a very unusual condescension to his readers." 
But, more to the point here, he declared the versification of Glover 

'^■'Phelps, The Beginnings of the Eng. Rom. Movement, p. 36. 



293] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 201 

superior to that of Milton — a statement for which Nathan Drake 
expressed his contempt by the addition of an exclamation point/-'' 

But a more considerable contribution was that of Dr. Henry Pem- 
bertou (1694-1771), entitled Observations on Poetry, especially Epic, 
Occasioned by Lconidas (1738). He was possessed with the same spirit 
of formal excellence, fancied that he knew, ipse dixit, just what poetry 
ought to be ; and, because Paradise Lost was not that, it must be con- 
demned. This criticism gave rise in the same year to the popular papers 
by Samuel Say (1676-1743), published posthumously by William Dun- 
combe (1745), in defence of Milton. With The Poems of Say, there 
were "Two Critical Essays," the first on Rhythm in General, and the 
second on the Rhythm of Paradise Lost. He turned to ridicule the 
criticisms of Bentley, and defended the variety and freedom of Milton 
as an excellence, in reply to the strictures of the "Leonidas group." 
The preceding year (1744), James Harris (1709-1780) insisted that 
poetry had a charm, "arising from its numbers only." This he illus- 
trated from Paradise Lost, where he found also the "few pure iambics 
of the syllabic sort" in the English language. He also praised the Com- 
panion Poems, and regarded Milton as the highest object of esthetic 
enjoyment, calling for culture and critical powers.^^^ 

A disciple of Pemberton, who became greater than his master, was 
John Mason (1706-1763), who published his Essays on the Power and 
Harmony of Numbers in 1749 (2nd. edition in 1761). He was inter- 
ested in the musical values of verse, and admitted some variations in 
deference to Milton, whom he regarded as a "great master of poetic 
numbers," but "not without his faults." But even this measure of 
liberality ^vas tabooed by Dr. Johnson, who insisted that the rigid regu- 
larity of ' ' our versification admits of few licenses. ' '^-' 

These dictatorial critics, whose orthodoxy in verse had no support 
in historical fact, could not long hold a position of authority, when the 
tendency of the times demanded such support. The formal recognition 
of this fact appeared in Lord Kames, who produced his Elements of 
Criticism in 1762. With him, the structural foundation of English 
verse was regularity. The time element was also observed in versifica- 
tion. The essential difference between verse and prose was the degree 
of perfection involved and the observation of "certain inflexible laws." 
He praised Pope, especially in his Rape of the Lock, for perfection of 

1-^0*1 The Leonidas of Glover. Common Sense, April 9, 1737. See Drake's 
Gleaner (iSii). No. 36. Vol. I, 293-305. 

^"-^Three Treatises (1744)- Chap. v. Cf. also The Works (1841), pp. 403, 
4". 453- 

^"Dict. of the Eng. Language (1755). Historical Introduction. Section on 
Prosodv. 



202 THE MILTON TRADITION [294 

Versification. But all these elements of regularity are rather taken for 
granted as the fundamental basis of verse. Karnes formally announced 
in his Introduction that this work was to be inductive. He did not 
dictate what poetry should be, but appealed to history to see what 
poetry really is. This appeal brought him into contact with the masters. 
His weakness appeared in pronouncing Shakespeare ' ' a sort of measured 
prose ; " his redemption was in praising Milton 's ' ' richest melody ' ' and 
"sublimest sentiments." His real significance, however, was in his mak- 
ing the basic regularity of poetry bow in service to the demands of 
sentiment. This enthroning of substance above form led him to assign 
several reasons, which a contemporary critic regarded unanswerable, 
"wliy blank verse is preferable to rhyme, where force and elevation of 
language is requisite."'-* Content then is the determining factor in 
poetry. Verse form is a means and not an end ; and greatness of poetry 
depends upon the greatness of mind, the exaltation of soul, the loftiness 
of the message that the verse brings to men. In this general view, it 
will be seen that Kames was seconded by Webb ; and the two constitute 
a landslide from regularity to the side of Milton, liberality, and blank 
verse. 

The other line of criticism was followed by those who continued 
from the earlier period to champion the cause of blank verse directly in 
opposition to the couplet. This provoked some overbold assertion of 
confidence on the part of the formalists (Trib. 58), but the liberal ranks 
of blank verse were constantly recruited, and the movement increased 
rapidly in strength during this period. 

The essential difference in the two schools may be stated in various 
terms of antagonism, according to the point of view. It was blank verse 
versus heroic couplet, reason versus imagination, Milton versus Pope, 
authority versus individualism, arbitrary dictum versus historical facts, 
form versus content, progress versus conservatism, dawn versus twi- 
light, liberty versus shackles, and so on inexhaustibly. But all of this 
means that the nation was weary of the worn out monotony of the 
couplet, and wanted a new, liberal, and hopeful medium of poetic 
expression. 

This was the period when the serious battle was fought and won, 
though there were later attacks from the defeated ranks of the couplet. 
The blank verse poems of Philips and Tliomson continued to be popular. 
Much strength was added to the cause of liberal versification in the 
popular blank verse productions of Warton, Blair, Young, and others, 

i=*Henry Home (1696-1782), Lord Kames. Elements of Criticism. Intro- 
duction, and Chapter xviii on "Beauty of Language." Many other chapters have 
matter on Milton. See also the Mo. Rev.. July. 1762, 27:13-^4- 



295] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 203 

in 1740-1750. By 1744 a poetical wit was telling the secrets of Par- 
nassus, how, 

With jingling Rhimes together tied, 

A Shameful Dearth of Sense we hide. ( Trib. 72.) 

Everywhere the advocates of blank verse laid increasing emphasis 
upon content as opposed to mere poetic form: the imaginative appeal 
and poetic spirit were held essential. Aaron Hill's Advice to the Poets 
was published, and reviewed at length in 1754. Among other things, 
the Review quoted the following significant Motto of the poem: 

Shame on your jugling, ye soft sons of rhyme, 
Tuneful consumers of your readers' time! 
Fancy's light dwarfs ! whose feather-footed strains, 
Dance in wild windings, through a waste of brains : 
Your's is the guilt of all, who judging wrong, 
Mistake tun'd nonsense for the poet's song.'^^ 

The substance of the song as the determining factor received no 
little emphasis from the pen of John Byrom (1692-1763). In his 
Thought on Rhyme and Blank Verse (1755), he seemed at first to favor 
rhyme, attributing the "craze" for blank verse to the stud}' of Homer, 
Virgil, Horace and plays. But he came to the final conclusion that 

'Tis the subject, in fine, in the matter of song. 

That makes a blank verse, or a rhyme to be wrong.'^" 

The Contest (1755), which contained a preface in favor of blank 
verse, illustrated with an original Ode by Roger Comberback, and a 
defence of Rhyme, supported by an Eclogue by Dr. John Byrom, pro- 
voked the same general sentiment from the Monthly Review. The critic 
conceded that "rh.yme may be, and often is, without poetry, as poetry 
may be without rhyme.'' He felt, however, that rhyme belonged to the 
genius of the English Language, and being more difScult, was a better 
test of poetical ability.'" That rliyme was felt to be the medium for 

i-^Mo. Rev., Jan., 1754, 10:16-30. 

i^^Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 15:206-207. 

"'Mo. Rev., Aug., 1755, 13 :95-9g. 

This critic attributed the charms of Shakespeare and Milton to "the animated 
beauty of their descriptions, and that justness and elevation of their sentiments, 
which feast the imagination, and possess the judgment so completely, that the 
absence of this organic gratification is scarcely adverted to." 



204 THE MILTON TRADITION [296 

expressing trivial content, is quite evident in the following taunt : 

Beaumont and Fletcher ; [great] 

Till fashion drove, in a refining age, 

Virtue from the court, and nature from the stage. 

Then nonsense, in heroics, seem'd sublime ; 

Kings rav'd in couplets, and maids sigh'd in rhyme."- 

Perhaps the most effective attempt to enthrone blank verse over the 
couplet was made in Warton's Essay upon Pope (1756), already consid- 
ered in this chapter. Warton was thoroughly imbued with Romantic 
tendencies, and applauded the freer mode far above that which shackled 
the imaginative element in verse. The next year (1757), Thomas New- 
comb rendered Hervey's Contemplations on A Flower-Garden into 
blank verse, and was censured for leaving remnants of rhyme, "which 
show always a bad effect in blank verse.'"'' In the same year, Robert 
Colvill (d. 1788) argued that blank verse was "suited to every species 
of composition, from the highest sublime down to very chit-chat," and 
gave an example of the latter extreme (Trib. 117). But a Reviewer of 
Gray's Odes (1757) stoutly contended that experiments showed the 
necessity of rhyme in English Odes.^"* 

Pew men spoke more distinctly on this subject than Dr. Edward 
Young (1683-1765), in his Conjectures on Original Composition (1758). 
No one, perhaps, was in position to speak with more authority. Being 
older than Pope, Dr. Young had seen the school of the couplets rise, 
reach its higliest point, and then decay. He was a student of his times, 
who marched in the front ranks of progress. He had attained some 
distinction in the pseudo-classical school, as a poet, and deserted that 
school only to attain higher poetic honours in the Romantic school. 
These Conjectures were designed to foster the forward movement. In- 
cidentally he discussed the typical modes of poetic expression. As a 
scholar, he spoke the mature conviction of careful observation. As a 
poet, he infused into his words the conviction of broad experience. His 
pronouncement may be regarded, therefore, as the pivot on which the 
Century swung around in respect to versification in favor of the Ro- 
mantic freedom of blank verse. Henceforth the couplet was on the 
defensive ; while the triumphant Romanticists calmly conceded certain 
real, but inferior, merits to the restraints of rhyme. 

Dr. Young happily brought the fuU force of the Romantic argu- 
ments into play by choosing to make his attack directly upon Pope's 

"^George Colman (1732- 1794). Prologue to Philastcr. Upon Powell's first 
appearance at Drury Lane, Oct. 8, 1763. Bell's Brit. Theatre, ed. 1797, vol. 18, pp. 
xiii-xiv. For emphasis upon content, see Trib. 134. 

i33Cr. Rev., July, 1757, 4 -.67. 

i='»Mo. Rev., Sept., 1757, 17:239-243. 



297 J CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 205 

Translation of the Iliad. Speaking of that performance, Young saitl : 

"Had Milton never wrote, Pope would have been less to blame ; but when in 
Milton's genius, Homer, as it were, personally rose to forbid Britons doing him 
that ignoble wrong, it is less pardonable, by that effeminate decoration, to put 
Achilles in petticoats a second time. How much nobler had it been, if his numbers 
had rolled on in full flow, thro' the various modulations of masculine melody, 
into those grandeurs of solemn sound which are indispensably demanded by the 
native dignity of heroic song! How much nobler if he had resisted the tempta- 
tions of that Gothic demon which modern poesy, tasting, became mortal I 

Harmony, as well as eloquence, is essential to poesy ; and a murder of his music 
is putting half Homer to death. 'Blank' is a term of diminution ; what we mean 
by 'blank verse' is verse, unfallen, uncursed ; verse reclaimed, reinthroned in the 
true language of Gods ; who never thundered, nor suffered their Homer to thunder, 
in rhyme." Again, speaking of Dryden, he says, "The demonstration of his no- 
taste for the buskin are his tragedies fringed with rhyme ; which in epic poetry 
is a sore disease, in the tragic absolute death. To Dryden's enormity. Pope's was 
a slight offence . . . 'Must rhyme,' then you say, 'be banished?' I wish the nature 
of our language could bear its entire expulsion ; but our lesser poetry stands in 
need of a toleration for it ; it raises that, but sinks the great ; as Spangles adorn 
children, but expose men."i^^ 

The immediate effects of this bold stand on the part of the most 
popular living poet were evident in the spirit of quiescence on the one 
hand, and of confidence on the other, that henceforth prevailed. In 
May of that year (1758) a Reviewer of Armstrong's Sketches held that 
transpositions were in harmony with the English language, and "that 
all our best English poems may be reduced to some standard of antient 
measure, especially the poem Paradise LostP'^ In December a high 
claim was made for blank verse excellence in didactic poetry, wlien 
another critic was "siirprised" that Dr. William Kenrick (1725-1779), 
in his Epistles, Philosophical and Moral, written in octosyllabics, "should 
have confined himself to the fetters of rhyme, an attention to which 
must of necessity cramp expression, and sometimes render the author's 
meaning obscure and ambiguous."^'' 

Gray showed an interest in this question of verse freedom, not 
unfavorable to advancement — "Gray disliked Akenside, and in general 
all poetry in blank verse, except Paradise Lost." But Gray was im- 
pressed with the spirit of liberal versification in Milton 's earlier rhymed 
verse, and felt that England owed her deliverance from the modern 

'^"■^Conjectures, 565. 574. Quoted by Phelps, Beginnings of Roiuantieisiii, 43-44. 
I'^sLauncelot Temple (John Armstrong, 1709-1779), Sketches, or Essays on 
Various Subjects. London. /75.S\ Cr. Rev., May, 1758, 5:380-386. 
i"Cr. Rev., Dec, 1758, 6:439-453- 



206 THE MILTON TRADITION [298 

fetters, to the influence of Spenser and Milton's Paradise Lost^'-'^ Gold- 
smith, who was never consistent in anything, deplored the modern vogue 
of blank verse (1759), left rhyme out of his definition of poetry (1760), 
decried all modern verse (1770), and himself wrote in endless couplets."'' 
Samuel Bishop (1731-1795), in his Epigrams (ccviii), rather pithily 
questioned, 

If rhyme, or blank verse, in our day, 
Serves Poetry's purpose worst! 

The Monthly Review defended "The dignity of blank verse," and 
declared the mode potentially popular. "The easy harmony of lyric 
poetry," it was claimed, "is not more readily caught by the unbrdeed 
ear of age, than the swelling grandeur of Miltonic numbers."'*" The 
historical appeal was pronounced in the antiquarian mind of Bishop 
Percy (1729-1811), who, while editing the Poems of Surrey (1763), 
gave specimens of all blank verse before Milton. 

The influence of such claims and such appeal at just this point 
cannot be overestimated. Gradually the spirit of the times had risen 
to the consummate statement of Dr. Young. The venerable Doctor had 
used Milton's excellence as a means of exposing Pope's weakness in 
dealing with the Ancients, had branded the French innovations of the 
Restoration even in the hands of Dryden as monstrous, and had as- 
signed rhyme to the sphere of small poetry. Here it was claimed that 
blank verse was essentially the possession of the people ; and Percy 
showed in his collected specimens that it was a part of their national 
tradition, which was felt to bring them nearest to the glory of the 
Ancients. As all that was essentially English must have thrilled secretly 
upon the appearance of Paradise Lost in the old form of native excel- 
lence, so all here must have openly rejoiced at these advances as the 
effectual emancipation of the Nation from the foreign and barbarous 
bondage of rhyming. 

The force of Dr. Young's position appeared plainly in the Elements 
of Criticism (1762), by Lord Karnes, already considered. It was even 
stronger in the Remarks on the Realities of Poetry, by Daniel Webb 
(1719-1798), published in the same year, and in his Observations on the 
Correspondence between Poetry and Music (1769). He was, like Kames, 

i^isGray, To Richard West (1742), ed. Gosse (1884), II, 108; The Works 
(1884), II, 164, quoted from Mitford's Ed. (1816) ; Ohs. on Eng. Metre (1760-1). 
Works, I, 332-333, 335. 

'^^^Present State of Polite Learning (1759). Chapter x. Murray ed., II, 52. 
Citizen of the World (1760), Letter 40. Dedication to The Traveller (1765). 
Murray, I, 1-4. The Life of Parnell, III, 126-14S. Note 112 above. 

I'^Criticism of Resignation, in Two Parts, &c. Mo. Rev., June, 1762, 26:462ff. 



299] CONTROVERSIES AND EXPLANATIONS, 1730-1765 207 

a believer in regularity as the formal basis of verse ; but even more than 
Kames, Webb held that regularity must bow to the needs of content and 
expression. 

Webb's Remarks, which are said to be "both judicious and ingenious," are 
very important in this connection. His criticism is introduced in the form of a 
dialogue between Rhyme and Blank Verse. His evident object is to exalt the 
merits of blank verse, and to expose the defects of rhyme. The latter, for want 
of liberality, he declared deficient for nature, truth, and music. He argued that 
the couplet is incapable of such a variety in its harmony as Blank Verse ; but 
poets of an ordinary genius should never give it up. "Yet let not bards of sub- 
lime powers sacrifice their noble fire to an empty jingle. Let them unfold their 
lofty images in a continued strain of unlimited harmony, and in a superior majesty 
of Miltonic numbers." The couplet was held to tame enthusiasm, and to compel 
littleness of scenery. But Blank Verse admitted great force and variety, and 
allowed a better expression of passions. 

Webb "agrees with all men of taste and judgment," according to the Critical 
Review, "to prefer" blank verse to rhyme. He held that "rhyme is not formed for 
those fine gradations which blank verse is capable of." The freer mode was 
claimed to give (i) more dignified expressions of the subject; (2) greater variety 
of pause; (3) more variety of harmony, affording less leveling and more exalting 
effects, better breaks and transitions, better changes of passion, and both verbal 
and sentimental harmony, by the last meaning agreement between the sound or 
movement and the sense. 

The following criticism of Addison, heartily seconded by the Critical Review, 
was directed at the weakness of the couplet. "Accustomed as he was to the secure 
monotony of the couplet, he had neither the genius to bear him through, nor the 
courage to attempt the unbounded variety of the Miltonic measures." He com- 
pared Addison to a weak bird of a straight flight, and Milton to "the eagle, won- 
derful in his soarings, (who) shows in his very stoops the power of his wings."'*^ 

This author started with regularity as the basis of versification, but 
discussed the qualities of verse in terms of the Romantic spirit, exalted 
blank verse above the couplet, and identified the freer form with the 
advanced movement. Blank verse was held to be not only the form 
most proper to the sublime, but also to the natural, the liberal, to enthu- 
siasm, and to the passions. These views were asserted with the full con- 
fidence of popular support. The Monthly Review, not usually very 
sjonpathetic with blank verse, devoted sixteen pages to Webb's publica- 
tion. This immediate interest was sanctioned by the later popularity 
of the work, which appeared in several editions. The Critical Review 

declared that this "elegant performance has a great deal of 

merit, without any fault but that of a fine day in autumn, of being too 
short. ' ' 

With the acceptance of this work, one may regard the triumph of 

i"Mo. Rev., April, 1762, 26:282-298. Cr. Rev., May, 1762, 13:401-405. 



208 THE MILTON TRADITION [300 

blank verse complete, though the couplet was destined to one more 
death-struggle for existence. This period of commentaries and contro- 
versies has made Milton's substance the nation's possession, and his 
verse-form the nation's poetic voice. There this chapter leaves him in 
his popular supremacy. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Romantic Application op Milton, 1765-1801 

The former period having in large measure explained Milton's 
Paradise Lost and popularized his Prose, and introduced his Minor 
Poems into familiarity, this period undertook the Romantic application 
of those materials. By this is meant mainly that Milton's influence 
flows full into the main currents of this great life movement of the 
Eighteenth Century. For a hundred years his lofty utterances had 
gradually wrought themselves into the fibre of English, and even Conti- 
nental, life. Already their molding, directing, productive power had 
been felt. But during this period they came to their own in the richest 
fruitage of the Romantic Movement. A new day had dawned upon the 
world, a day of larger human sympathies, of better and brighter hopes ; 
and the Romantic forces, with Milton much in the lead, were showing 
their right to occupy the new day. 

The Prose Works and Paradise Lost showed multiplied points of 
contact with the new movement, as will appear subsequently in this 
chapter. But the Minor Poems were narrowed largely to the limited 
sphere of poetic imitation, within which sphere their influence was Ro- 
mantic, and not unimportant. Considerable critical attention was given 
to these poems during the last quarter of the century, but this attention 
was more in the nature of scholarly research, than of Romantic emphasis. 

Samson Agonistes, which had been popular as an Oratorio in the 
preceding period, was, in this period, relegated to the scholar's closet. 
Dr. James Beattie, in a foot-note to his Essay on Truth (1770), com- 
mended Samson as a new type of heroic character not in Homer, and 
the conception of Delilah as the perfection of "an alluring, insinuating, 
worthless woman."' Perhaps this very note led Dr. Johnson (1779) to 
censure this Tragedy for revealing a want of knowledge in human 
nature in the "shades of character" and in "the combination of con- 
curring or the perplexity of contending passions."- Richard Cumber- 

' James Beattie, LL.D. (1735-1803). An Essay on Truth (1776). II, 9211. 

^Johnson, Life of Milton (Hill). I, i88-igo. He reiterated the criticism of 
1751 (p. 171), allowing the Tragedy to have "many particular beauties, many just 
sentiments and striking lines : but it wants that power of attracting attention which 
a well-connected plan produces." 

209 



210 THE MILTON TRADITION [302 

land (1732-1811) in 1786,-^ and Sir John Hawkins (1719-1789) in 1787,* 
undertook to defend Milton against these strictures of Johnson, "but 
with little success, ' ' according to the Monthly Review. 

The Tragedy was translated into Greek (1788) by George Henry 
Glasse (d. 1809<),'^ and an abridgement of it for the stage was attempted 
by John Penn ten years later." In 1790, the drama was closeted along 
with Glover's Medea and Mason's Elfrida and CaractacusJ This con- 
viction of the closet qualities of the play was emphatic in the mind of 
Thomas Green, who pronounced Samson "a noble poem, but a miserable 
drama.'" Thus Samson as a Tragedy passed through the Classical and 
Romantic movements of the Eighteenth Century with little more than 
the perfunctory attention of scholarly criticism. 

The earlier Poems of Milton continued to be widely imitated, the 
Sonnet revival was a distinct product of their influence, the Latin and 
Italian poems came into prominence, as already noticed in chapter II, 
and the other more important poems of the group attracted considerable 
attention on the part of scholarly research. 

The Monthly Review (1766) regarded it a "dangerous tiling to 
attempt to translate the Companion Poems, whose merit in no small 
degree depends upon a felicity of expression."" The next year. Gold- 
smith felt that the irregular measure of their introductions, "borrowed 
from the Italian — hurts an English ear.""* After these commonplaces 
it is refreshing to meet with a letter of Sir William Jones (1745-1794) 
To Lady Spencer (1769) giving a Description of Milton's Residence at 
Forest Hill, three miles from Oxford, where Milton wrote the Com- 
panion Poems. 

^Observer, No. 76. Brit. Essayists, 18^3. 33: No. 76; 1827, 27:1-6. Cf. Mo. 
Rev., May, 1789, 80:410-414. 

*The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1787). Mo. Rev., July, 1787, 77:67-68. 

f^This was a Greek-Latin edition, Oxford (1788), London (1789). It received 
an extensive review, concerned mainly with the fidelity and adequacy of the Trans- 
lation. Mo. Rev., 8r:i-i9, 97-111, 241-256. 

^Critical, Poetical and Dramatic Works, 2 vols. Elmsby. lygS. Vol. II. Mo. 
Rev., May, 1798, 107(26) :68-7i ; Cr. Rev., Dec, 1798, n. s. 24:475-76. 

^F. Sayers, Dramatic Sketches of the Ancient Northern Mythology. 4to., pp. 
i!2. Johnson, London, 1790. Evidently connected with the Romantic revival, but 
they were declared to be a sort of closet dramas, after the manner of Milton's 
Samson, &c., with "several attempts at innovation." 

Thos. Green, Extracts from the Diary of a Lover of Literature. Under March 
8th, 1799. He liked Comus better, but preferred "the Gothic Architecture of Shake- 
speare." Lycidas, for want of genuine sorrow. Green regarded "essentially defect- 
ive as a Monody." 

=Mo. Rev., Feb., 1766, 34:166. 

^"The Beauties of English Poesy. (1767, 1776.) Cr. Rev., June, 1767, 23:408- 
411. IVorks (Murray, 1S54). III. 436. 



303] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 211 

Perhaps few circumstances combine more lines of Miltonic and 
Komantic interests. Jones was a stiident of Milton's Prose. "He pur- 
sued in theory, and even executed in practice, the plan of education 
projected by Milton; and boasted, that with the fortune of a peasant, 
he could give himself the education of a prince.'"^ At the age of 
tweuty-tliree he had all the enthusiasm of an ardent Romanticist, with 
the instinct of the pilgriiu, tlie love of the country, and a veneration for 
the relics of the past. He found his holiday diversion with Milton's 
Minor Poems. He had on this occasion visited the sacred literary 
shrine, consecrated by the early residence and labors of Milton. There 
Jones amused himself with the several points of local contact with the 
L' Allegro and II Pensoroso. There he lingered fondly about the ruins 
of the old mansion where Milton had lived. Solemn thoughts of the 
great poet and of his vast meaning to the English world came into this 
young devotee's mind. "The hawthorn in the dale," and the nightin- 
gale groves "most musical, most melancholy," vanished alike from his 
thoughts, while the serious Milton took full possession of his mind. The 
young enthusiast resolved to "repair this venerable mansion, and to 
make a festival for a circle of friends, in honor of Milton, the most 
perfect scholar, as well as the sublimest poet, that our country ever 
produced."^- How inevitable the transition! How patriotic and grate- 
ful the spirit! How Romantic the sentiment! That was indeed the 
way ill which many were beginning to think of Milton. 

These Companion Poems were used as familiar illustrative ma- 
terials,'=' and were regarded, along with Paradise Lost, as an essential 

iiCampbell, Specimens Brit. Poets. 1819. 7:205. 

i=ro Lady Spencer, Sept. 7. 1769. C. D. Cleveland, A Comp. of Eng. Lit., 
1S69. 698-700. 

>^At least three writers cited these poems to illustrate "the imitative power of 
articulate sounds": Jas. Beattie (Essay on Truth), (ed. 1777, II, p. 308); Geo. 
Campbell (Philosophy of Rhetoric, 1776. Cr. Rev., 42:184) ; Thos. Twining (Disscr. 
on Poetical Imitation, with Aristotle's Treatise on Poetry, 1789. Cr. Rev., 68: 
358-366). The last quoted Contus also, and Beattie quoted the Comp. Poems nine 
times for various purposes in his Essay on Truth (1770). "Ten well adapted lines 
from II Penseroso of Milton" were in the first room of the "Hermitage" at Hagley 
Park. (Joseph Heeley, Letters on the Beauties of Hagley, Envil, and the Lca- 
soives, Cr. Rev., July, 1777, 44:37.) Richardson wrote a paper (Mirror, No. 24, 
April 17, 1779, Brit. Es., 1823, 28: No. 24), To Show the "Advantages which the 
Artist in the fine Arts has over Nature in the Assemblage and .\rrangement of 
Objects ; exemplified in Milton's Allegro and Penseroso." The artist can control 
the selection of external sensuous objects that will harmonize with the internal 
feelings. This is well done by Milton. Beattie had noticed this excellence in his 
Essay on Truth (1770). 



212 THE MILTON TRADITION [304 

element in popular education." The scholar's interest in the Minor 
Poems became prominent in 1772, and continued throughout the cen- 
tury. Comus was re-adapted that year, by George Coleman, into a sort 
of interlude tliat was fairly popular. But the main stimulus to the 
discussion of Milton's minor poetry was the publication, by the Rev. 
William Thompson, of The Works of Wm. Browne, (1591-1643). 

Browne's Shepherd's Pipe (1614, 1620) was composed of seven 
Eclogues. The fourth of these, a lament of the author for his deceased 
friend, Thomas Manwood, was supposed to have given Milton a sugges- 
tion for his Lijcideis. Browne also wrote The Inner Temple Masque, 
which was acted Jan. 13, 1615, but never printed until this edition in 
1772. Thompson commended it for its "Strong and lively fancy" and 
suggested that "Milton, in all probability, borrowed the idea of Comus 
from this excellent poem." The "probability" was generally allowed; 
and Thomas Warton's interest in the suggestion led finally, through 
various stages of his History,^'* and Editions of Milton, to his Account 
of the Origin of Comus, separately printed in 1799. 

At the risk of slightly repeating from Chapter IV, the criticism of 
Johnson's Life of Milton (1779) must be noticed here, for it was the 
touchstone of almost all that followed in the century. The Doctor's 
view of Samson Agonistes has already appeared in this chapter. It was 
adverse to Milton. So was Johnson's estimate of the smaller pieces and 
the Latin verses of Milton. Johnson did allow a grudging praise to the 
Companion Poems, and an ample measure of applause to Paradise Lost. 
But he poured forth his utmost bitterness against Comus and Lycidas. 
Comus was pronounced the greatest of the Juvenile performances. Milton 
was applauded for his "power of description and his vigour of sentiment, employed 
in the praise and defence of virtue. A work more truly poetical is rarely found. 

^*The Poetical Miscellany, printed by Becket (1762), for use in schools, began 
with selections from Milton, and drew, for the most part, from poets that were 
Romantically inclined. The editor presumed that "any sensible and unprejudiced 
parent will be better pleased to hear his son repeat 50 lines of Milton, &c., than 
SCO lines of Ovid or Virgil." This work was commended (Mo. Rev.. Nov., 1762, 
27:390). Poems for Young Ladies (1767) formally recommended extracts from 
P. L. for girls ; and Cowper thought the Comp. Poems and the Epic a good thing 
for boys. {To Wm. Unwin, Jan. 17, 1782.) The Reviews regarded any neglect of 
Milton as little less than stupid. Cf. Mrs. Madan's Progress of Poetry ( Cr. Rev., 
Mar., 1783, 55:231), and Jas. Hurdis's Tears of Affection (i794)- (Mo. Rev., 
96(15) :3I4, 

'■"'Another attempt was made in 1786 to find the source of Lycidas in Buclian- 
an's Desiderium Lutetiac. "T. H. \^^". Gent. Mag., Sept.. 1786, 56(2) :iiio-ii. 

i^Warton also went at some length into the similarities of Browne's Masque 
and Comus, in his Hist, of Eng. Poetry (1775). Hazlitt ed.. III. 321. Cf. also the 
Cr. Rev., Feb., 1772, 33:118, for Thompson's view. 



305] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 213 

As a series of lines it is worthy of all the admiration with which the votaries of 
Milton have received it." "As a drama, it is deficient. The action is not proba- 
ble." The discourse of the Spirit was thought too long. The Prologue in the 
woods was condemned.!' The soliloquies of Comus and the Lady were considered 
elegant, but tedious. The whole "wants animation, and that quality which allures 
attention." It is "a drama in the epick style, inelegantly splendid, and tediously in- 
structive." (Ed. G. B. Hill, I, 167-169.) 

Lycidas, however, had no preamble of praise to ameliorate the strokes of cen- 
sure. "The diction is harsh, the rhyme uncertain, and the numbers unpleasing. What 
beauty there is we must therefore seek in the sentiments and the images. It is not 
to be considered as the effusion of real passion : for passion runs not after remote 
allusions and obscure opinions." "In this poem there is no nature, for there is no 
truth; there is no art. for there is nothing new." The mixing of "sacred truths" 
was regarded as little short of sacrilege. (Ed. Hill, I, 163.) 

These strictures, together with the sinister reflection upon Milton's 
religion, and the abuse of that poet for his political views, were as fire 
touched to the Romantic magazines. The explosion was immediate, and 
measured the strength of Milton's hold upon English life in connection 
with the new movement. The nation that had, in the beginning of the 
Eighteenth Century, debated Milton's Epic, doubted his religion, hated 
his prose, and ignored his Minor Poems, rose in reply to this last great 
voice of the old prejudice, and defended everything that was Miltonic. 

These friends of Milton and Romanticism defended Milton's char- 
acter as a student, and found his religion, which needed no defence, 
reflected in the Romantic excellence of that simple, soulful devotion of 
the first Parents in Eden. Loyally they exalted Milton's Latin Verses 
above those of Cowley, and even pronounced them classic. With Ro- 
mantic zeal and patriotic enthusiasm they championed the political 
principles of Milton, and espoused the cause of certain Minor Poems 
against the particular strictures of the Doctor 's pen. But comparatively 
few cared to bring the exalted Paradise Lost down to the low plane of 
this controversy. Prom the standpoint of that divine performance, 
this "most industrious cruelty" of Johnson was an outrage, if not 
sacrilege itself.^** 

Walpole spoke of this Life of Milton with scorn: and Archdeacon 
Blackburne treated the doctor with no small measure of abuse. J. 
Boerhadem declared it "painful to liberal mind to see such a man, and 
such a writer as Dr. Johnston, stooping to throw the dirt of party." 
He charged the work with "several ill-natured misrepresentations."^' 

I'Landor felt that Johnson's criticism of the Prologue was unanswerable, and 
that the general criticism was sane. (Imaginary Conversations, iv, 284.) 

isWm. Cowper, To Win. Unwin, Oct. 31, 1779. Hayley's Life of Cozi'l'cr, 1S12. 
I, 215. 

^^Gent. Mag.. Oct., 1779, 49:492-493. 



214 THE MILTON TRADITION [306 

The Rev. Thomas Twining considered that '"Johnson's mind is fettered 
with prejudice, civil, poetical, political, religious, and even superstitious. 
As a reasoner he is nothing. He has not the least tincture of the esprit 
philosophique upon any subject." He censured the Doctor severely for 
failing to recognize a "promise of Milton's genius in his Juvenile 
Poems," and for not feeling the beauties of Gray.-" Philip Neve, whose 
opinion of Milton was in keeping with the enthusiastic spirit of the age, 
afSrmed "that prejudice, envy, nay malignity, have, throughout this 
work, even extinguished the candour of its author; in all cases deter- 
mined his will against his subject, and in some misled his judgment."-' 

Gradually the Doctor's feeling of revolt against the spirit of his 
later times had come to this point of fuial explosion. Gradually, too, 
the narrowing focus of his Tory prejudices was felt to center upon 
Milton as the productive influence of the liberal party. Already, seven- 
teen years before this attack, the Monthly Review had sounded a warn- 
ing that an insult to the Memorj' of the "glorious" poet of Paradise 
Lost was ' ' an offence which no party attaclunent can palliate. ' '-- John- 
sou, who knew the fountain heads of the liberal movement, threw himself 
across its main Miltonic stream, only to find himself for a time in the 
swirling floods of wrath and indignation. Even his venerable age did 
not shield him. Nor did his death (1784) check the voices that rose to 
defend Milton. The opposite was rather true. When the old Doctor 
had passed away, the Great Reviews and the periodicals seemed to feel 
a new license to cull and comment to suit the spirit of the age. 

Few writers seem to have thought of Milton without some feeling 
of resentment against Dr. Johnson. The current Reviews felt that Mil- 
ton was outraged.-^ Dunbar felt that Milton ' ' lisped in numbers, ' ' and 
beheld in Comus "the dawn of an immortal day."-* James Burnet, who 
felt Johnson incapable of judging Milton, thought the subject of Comus 
even better chosen than that of Paradise Lost, and Milton alone eompar- 

20Twining bought the Lives Dec. 8, 1781. (To His Brother. M.-iy 3, i;84.) 
A Country Clergyman of the iSth. Century, pp. 1 19-120. 

•^Cursory Remarks {1789), pp. 134-35- Neve thought that this Life would be 
the last "for many years," and thus warned against a probable misconception of 
Milton from the work. But several Lives of Milton were written within a few 
years. Chap, iv, above. 

^-Stated in an adverse criticism on the Toryism of John Phillips, which led 
him to "call the despicable James I 'the favorite of Heaven,' and Charles his son, 
'the best of Kings' "—a fact which his biographer had overlooked, in his edition of 
Philip's Poems uith a Life (1762). Mo. Rev.. Sept., 1762. 27:227. 

23Mo. Rev., 1779, 61:81-92, 186-191, Cr. Rev., 1779, 47:354-362, 450-453. 

=^Jas. Dunbar, Essays on the Hist, of Mankind in Rude and Unci'.ili.'-ed .4ges. 
In a Note, quoted by the Cr. Rev., .\ug., 1780. 50:108. 



307] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 215 

able to Homer." George Canuing quoted Comus, and considered Milton 
the father of English poetry.^" One ultra enthusiast thought this poem 
the best expression of Milton's "genuine feeling," and would prefer 
the honor of its authorship even to that of Paradise Lost.-'' Lycidas 
was also formally defended as a work of genius, especially in the much 
applauded Critical Essays (1785) by John Scott of Amwell.-" In all 
guch works one may constantly feel an attempt to deny Johnson's ad- 
verse views respecting these particular poems of the great English poet. 

The great bulwark of defence against Dr. Johnson was, however, 
the editorial work of Thomas Warton. If his edition of Milton's Poems 
on Several Occasions (1785, 1791) was not suggested by Johnson's criti- 
cism, certainly it was greatly stimulated by the general spirit of resent- 
ment. Warton, however, was respectful, though confidently sympathetic 
with Milton. The Johnson element in Warton 's work was a mere inci- 
dent. The work was intended to be a much needed contribution to 
Miltonic interests. In a long Preface Warton dwelt upon the neglect of 
Milton's earlier poems, first by the reading public, and secondly by vast 
editorial activities of the Eighteenth Century. Only twice before (1645, 
1673) had the poems been published in separate editions, and never had 
they been separately edited. Warton, therefore, undertook the work 
much in the spirit of public service and national obligation, and as such 
his labors were received with applause.^" 

This volume of Warton became at once the rallying point of enthu- 

-'^Lord Monboddo. Letter xxxiv. To Sir George Baker, Oct. 2, 1782. ed. Knight, 
1900. pp. 214-215. He regarded the oratorical excellence of P. L. "wonderful." 

-^"Gregory Griffin," Microcosm No. ix. Nov. 6, 1786. Coxius, 291-293. 

"''Critical Remarks. The Bee. No. 143. vol. xvi, 265. Drake's Gleaner, i8ji. 
No. 174. iv, 306-320. This writer exalted blank verse, the sublimity of Paradise 
Lost, Allegro, and Comus, but felt that the reputation of the Epic had "given a 
degree of respectability to all his other writings, yet in all these we discover more 
of labor than is suitable to the ease of light composition." 

-*John Scott, Esq. (1730-1783). Critical Essays on Some of the Poems of 
Several English Poets, edited by J. Hoole, 1785. Of Milton's poems, he chose 
Lycidas for "judicious" vindication. Mo. Rev., July, 1785. 77:25-31. Cf. Cr. Rev., 
Nov., 1785. 60:345-350. 

29Cr. Rev., 1785, 59:321-328, 421-430. Mo. Rev., 1788, 79:1-12, 97-104, 342-351; 
1791. 91(10) :24-34. 

There were some adverse matters, as A Letter to T. Warton, &. (1785), which 
was variously criticised— as a "trifling" indication of a "carping discontented spirit" 
(Cr. Rev., Aug., 1785, 60:159); as "well worth the consideration of Mr. Warton" 
(Mo. Rev., Oct., 1788, 79:380); and as partly true (Thos. Green, Extracts from 
the Diary, June 24, 1800). But Warton's second edition (1791) showed him capa- 
ble of profiting by the suggestions made. 



216 THE MILTON TRADITION [308 

siastic opposition to Dr. Johnsou's earlier strictures on Milton.'" But 
the real re-action to Warton's work was a quickened interest in the 
sources of Milton's Minor Poems. "C. T. 0." began to emphasize Mil- 
ton's indebtedness to Spenser, the Fletchers and Drayton, early in 1786.''' 
Philip Neve was largely interested in this phase of Milton study 
(1789).'- An anonymous writer, in The Bee, argued a close connection 
between Drummond of Hawthornden and Milton's Minor Poetry.^^ 
H. J. Todd published his learned edition of Comus (1798), which after- 
wards became a part of his great Edition of Milton's Complete Poetical 
Works (1801). Comus, with Warton's Origin of the poem, was sepa- 
rately printed (1799), and Nathan Drake was interested in the Platonic 
notes of this Mask and II Penseroso during the last years of the 
century."* 

""Cf. the Letters of Anna Seivard (1747-1809), xii, To Court Dcwes, Esq., 
Mar. 30, 1785. She hailed Warton as "indeed a critic," and hoped that his powers 
may "clear the times from their darl<ness," referring to "the misleading sophistry 
of Johnson." Also xv, To Mrs. Brooke, April 21. 1785. She pronounced the 
edition "a literary treasure," and thought tliat Warton had "all the eloquence and 
strength of Johnson, without his envy." 

■''iGent. Mag., 1786, 56:134-136, 486-488. 

"-Cursory Remarks. Neve felt that Milton was indebted to Spenser and the 
Italians for Lycidas ; to Ben Jonson fqr Comus: and to Beaumont and Fletcher 
for // Penseroso. But his remarks on the last poem are worth quoting entire. 
He considered "that Beaumont's song in the Passionate Madman deserves as much 
attention as the Penseroso itself." He analyzed the song, finding many of its 
images in Penseroso, but little contribution to the structure of Milton's poem. 

"The subjects they severally exhibit are very different: they are like only as 
shown under the same disposition of Melancholy. Beaumont's is the melancholy 
of the swain : of the mind that contemplates nature and man. but in the grove 
and the cottage. Milton's is that of the scholar and the philosopher: of the intel- 
lect, that has ranged the mazes of science: and that decides upon vanity and hap- 
piness, from large intercourse with man, and upon extensive knowledge and expe- 
rience. To say, therefore, that Milton was indebted to Beaumont's song for his 
Penseroso would be absurd. That it supplied some images to his poem will be 
readily allowed : and that it would be difficult to find, throughout the Penseroso, 
amidst all its variety, any more striking, than what Beaumont's second stanza 
affords, may also be granted. Milton's poem is among those happy works of 
genius, which leave a reader no choice how his mind shall be affected." 

^'On the Character and Writings of Drummond of Haivthorndcn. The Bee, 
May 16, 1792. The Gleaner, No. 151, iv, 8g-io2. By Headley? 

^*Lit. Hours (1800), No. xxxv. In No. xxxv he considered Milton "the model 
of, and the first who excelled in, what I would term the pictoresque ode. His 
L' Allegro and // Penseroso are the most exquisite and accurately descriptive poems 
in his own, or any other language, and will probably ever remain unrivalled." 



309] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON, 1765-1801 217 

The choicest of all these labours contributed to the variorum edition 
of Milton (1801) by H. J. Todd. The knell of adverse criticism was 
sounded by Edward Copleston (1776-1849), whose Burlesque Revieiv of 
Milton's r Allegro (1807) lashed the petty critics all out of court. There 
is nothing better with which to close this account of the Minor Poems, 
than the following appreciative statement of Sir Walter Scott, spoken 
in a connection that called for no exaggeration. His purpose was to 
show Milton "s splendid superiority to the poetic conventions of his own 
day, as exemplified in the Minor Poems. But even in doing this, Scott 
pi-aised more the great Epic as the embodiment of what Milton has 
meant to the world. 

"Wliile liis great contemporary Milton was in silence and secrecy laying the 
foundation of that immortal fame, which no poet has so higlily deserved, Dryden's 
labours were ever in the eye of the public." 

"Milton, who must not be named in the same paragraph with others, although 
he had not yet meditated the sublime work which was to carry his name to im- 
mortality, disdained, even in his lesser compositions, the preposterous conceits and 
learned absurdities by which his contemporaries acquired distinction. Some of his 
slighter academic prolusions are, indeed, tinged with the prevailing taste of the 
age, or, perhaps, were written in ridicule of it ; but no circumstance in his life is 
more remarkable, than that Coiiius, the Monody of Lycidas, the Allegro and 
Penseroso, and the Hymn to the Nativity, are unpolluted by the metaphysical jar- 
gon and affected language which the age deemed indispensable to poetry. The 
refusal to bend to an evil so prevailing, and which held out so many temptations 
to a youtli of learning and genius, can only be ascribed to the natural chastity of 
Milton's taste, improved by an earnest and eager study of the purest models of 
antiquity. "■■■"■ 

This statement is the typical conclusion of the century very well 
stated. Milton's Minor Poetry was felt to possess an unusual excel- 
lence; but rarely was this smaller body of poetry thought of as Milton. 

The last period of the century was pre-eminently one of responses 
to the Miltouic activities of the preceding periods. Extensive editorial 
labours were not to be expected f'^ though the former labours of this 

The Lyric e.xcellence of Milton was also emphasized in Letters of Literature 
(1785), (Letter v), by "Robert Heron," Pinkerton. He thought that Gray had 
attained "a classic brevity and terseness formerly unknown in England, save to 
Milton alone." 

3^Li/c of John Dryden. Work of J. Dryden (1808). I, pp. 3, 16. 

5'*There were, however, some editorial labours worthy of notice. J. Buchanan 
rendered Six Books of Paradise Lost in Graiiuiiatical Construction, with Notes 
(1773)- R- Bladon printed both Epics, with "historical, philosophical, and explan- 
atory Notes, from several authors" (1775V Other publishers included similar 
selections of Notes, the chief contribution being "the celebrated critique" by Dr. 
Johnson, used by Parson (1796), and Evans (1799). 



218 THE MILTON TRADITION [310 

kind were in constant demand. The English people had come to under- 
stand Milton, set forth in his Prose and more powerfully in his Epics; 
and these works, especially the greater Epic, were the things most in 
demand. For a hundred years the exalted works of Milton had gradu- 
ally permeated the life of England, and helped to stir up the nation to 
throw off its yoke of depression. Gradually the volume of the response 
had grown until it had formed visible points of contact with almost 
every phase of the great life-movement, called Romanticism. The indi- 
cation of some of these more important points of contact, is the task 
now undertaken. 

First of all Paradise Lost formed a close contact with the better 
social life of the period, in the narrower sense of the word social. This 
was reflected on a rather large scale in the massive correspondence of 
the time. The average volume of Letters is almost equally divided in 
content between the purely social and the literary elements. The Letters 
of Gray usually have an ex cathedra more formal reservation of spirit, 
even when he would seem to speak informally. But even they indicate 
that he breathed, with his friends, a pure Miltonic air. The Wartous 
and Mason bring Milton down at times almost to street-corner chit-chat. 
Anna Seward discusses everything Miltonic in every degree of dignity, 
even to the spending of a page on a single sonnet. Cowper made Milton 
an everyday matter of business and homelife. The one thing prominent, 

The Rev. John Gillies, D.D., edited Milton's Paradise Lost, Illustrated with 
Texts of Scripture (1788, 2d. ed. 1793), which received brief commendation (Mo. 
Rev., Oct., 1788, 79:369). The famous Methodist divine, the Rev. John Wesley, 
edited Extracts from Milton's Paradise Lost, with Notes (i79i)- Capel Loft 
undertook an edition of Paradise Lost, A Poem in Twelve Books. The Author John 
Milton. Printed from the First and Second Editions Collated. The Original 
Orthography Restored; the Punctuation Corrected and Extended. With various 
Readings: Notes Chiefly Rhythmical. The First Book (1791) met with encourage- 
ment, and the work was carried through Book Four (1795), where it was dropped. 
(Cr. Rev., Jan., 1793, n. s. 7:12-14.) 

The Recovery of Man; or Paradise Regained, in Prose, was printed (177O- 
Charles Dunster felt that the Minor Epic was a worthy poem too much neglected, 
and plead "its merits with the masterly discrimination of an eloquent advocate," 
in a critical edition (1795), according to the testimony of H. J. Todd (Life of 
Milton, 1826, 211). 

Samuel Hayes, a disciple of Milton, felt that this smaller Epic had failed for 
want of furnishing an opportunity for "magnificent images and romantic descrip- 
tions." (Prayer, A Poem. Cr. Rev., Jan., 1778, 45 :74-75-) Thos. Green thought 
the subject most unhappily chosen. (Extracts. March i. i799.)The Biographia 
Dramatica (1812, II, part ii, pp. 518) held that this Epic was inferior only in 
comparison with Paradise Lost. Otherwise it stood at the head of English epic 
poetry. 



311] , THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 219 

upon which all seem to agree, is that the serious thought of social life, 
as respects Milton, turns upon his greater Epic. 

There was one writer, whose entire writing seems to reflect just this 
phase of eighteenth century life, in all its degrees of seriousness or the 
opposite. That writer was Horace Walpole (1717-1797), a summary of 
whose Miltonic interests is the best comment on the topic now in hand. 

Late in his life he regarded the Tractate "a severe institution." ( To the 
Countess of Upper Ossory, Dec. 26, 1789. Toynbee, xiv, 244.) Twenty years 
before, he had recognized Milton as having "noble sentiments of liberty, (but 
asked) who would remember him for his barbarous prose?" (To The Hon. Henry 
Seymour Conway, Nov. 14, 1769, vii, 332.) 

Walpole showed fondness for some of the Minor Poems, especially in his 
later life. He thought that "Allegro, Penscroso, and Comus might be designated 
from the Three Graces." {To John Pinkerton, June 26, 1785, xiii, 279-285.) He 
was attracted by the garden scene in Allegro (To Miss Mary Berry, Oct. i, 1794, 
XV, 312-14), and thought that "there is more nature in six lines of Allegro and 
Penscroso, than in all the laboured imitations of Milton." (To Miss Mary and 
Miss Agnes Berry, Sept. 16, 1791, xv, 59-60.) 

Walpole was ever interested in the scenic effects of Milton's poems, and 
especially those of Paradise Lost. This fact is very evident in the Essiiy on 
Modern Gardening (1785), which is given much to extolling Milton. Indeed Mil- 
ton's exalted greatness was the standard of reference, whether Walpole indulged 
in serious reflection or ridicule (Toynbee, I, 312). Sometimes he was impatient 
with adverse criticism of Milton. (To . . . Mason, Jan. 3, 1782, xii, 141.) Some- 
times he was merely curious, as when he wrote to Horace Mann for "a print of 
Vallombrosia," because of "a. passion there is for it in England, as Milton has 
mentioned it." (May 13, 1752, iii, 94; cf. Paradise Lost, I, 302.) He had at 
Strawberry Hill, in the Glass Closet, a copy of "Paradise Lost given by the Duke 
of Wharton to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who had written verses in the first 
leaf." (See her Letters and Works, 1893, II, 503, where these verses appear in 
print.) Walpole, like Steele, could turn Paradise Lost to social account with great 
facility; as when he described the charm of his heart at a ball of Miss Anne Pitt's 
in terms of Paradise Lost, I, 775-788. (To (Her), Feb. 21, 1764, vi, 15-16.) 

But in serious criticism Walpole proudly boasted independence of .'\ristotle 
and the rules, preferring "the Extravagant beauties of Shakespeare and Milton 
to the cold and well disciplined merit of Addison, and even to the sober and cor- 
rect march of Pope.'' (To Elic Dc Beaumont, March 18, 1765, vi, 201.) William 
Hayley's Essay on Epic Poetry, in Five Epistles to . . . Mason, gave considerable 
attention to Milton (Cf. Trib. 171), and called for a letter from Walpole to 
Mason (June 25, 1782, xii, 273). The tone of this letter was bitter irony, provoked, 
it seems, by Johnson's Life of .Milton (1779). Walpole said, "Milton all imagina- 
tion, and a thousand times more sublime and spirited (than Virgil), has produced 
a monster (epic) !" In another letter to Mason (No. 2272, 17S2?, xii, 172), Wal- 
pole calculated that four times what Mason is. would make him a little above 
Milton, and just equal to Shakespeare, "the only two mortals I am acquainted with 
who ventured beyond the visible diurnal sphere, and preserved their intellects." 



220 THE MILTON TRADITION [312 

Milton's writings made an immediate connection with the religious 
interests of eighteenth century life, and furnished paradoxically sup- 
port to orthodoxy and to the Romantic tendencies in religion. The 
Freethought that sprang up, parallel to the mysticism of the time, tended 
toward skeptical views of the world, of evil, and of the moral basis of 
the universe. The Churchmen who strove to defend the orthodox views 
constantly appealed to Milton as the highest authority,'*^ and Paradise 
Lost was declared to have "contributed more to support the orthodox 
creed than all the bodies of divinity that were ever written."^* 

This contribution was in support of what one may call classical 
religion. But the greater influence of Milton supported the cause of 
the liberals in religion, as in politics. Milton himself had made formal 
attacks upon the abuses of the established orders of the Church. He 
inherited a breach with the Church of Rome. He repudiated the Church 
of England. He found no existing organization of the Church adequate 
to the ideals of his own free spirit. His standard of worship was that 
of the Master, in his discourse at Jacob's Well,'" and that ideal Milton 
attempted to embody in the morning praise of Adam and Eve ih the 
Garden of Eden. 

Lowly they bowed, adoring, and began 

Their orisons, each morning duly paid 

In various style; for neither various style 

Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise 

Their Maker, in lit strains pronounced, or sung 

Unmeditated ; such prompt eloquence 

Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse, 

More tuneable than needed lute or harp 

To add more sweetness. 

Few details in the great Epic fired the imagination of the liberal 
party in religion with such power and productive influence as this simple 
scene of "unmeditated" worship in Eden. 

The influence of Paradise Lost extended to the extreme radicals iu 
religious thought. This influence was pronounced in a publication, 
called De la Predication, which appeared anonymously in Paris (1766), 
and apparently in London the same year. The author was for revolu- 
tion. His thesis was that the Church had really done nothing to solve 

^'Appendix G. 

38Review of Cumberland's Calvary (Mo. Rev., Sept., 1792, 90(9) :i-7)- Nathan 
Drake thought that the reputation of Paradise Lost was due largely to its abstruse 
Theologj-. (Lit. Hrs. See Cr. Rev., May, 1799, n. s. 26:11-19.) The dual nature 
of Milton as poet and theologian was recognized in a review of The Posthumous 
Works of Isaac IVatts, 3 vols., 1779 (Mo. Rev., 61:425). "It needed the genius of 
Milton to adopt the cant of Calvinism, and j'et maintain the dignity of poetry." 

^^Johti 4:23-24. 



313] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 221 

the social problems of life. The priests had preached for ages, and all 
in vain. The poets, too, had preached in vain. The climax of his argu- 
ment he found in the failure of Milton 's message ; who, ' ' of all the epic 
poets," had "chosen the grandest subject, and the fittest for a 
preacher. His plan is immense ! It comprehends the counsels of the 
Almighty, and the whole creation." Since that has failed, the machinery 
for handling the problems of life through the Church is inadequate for 
the task. The whole argument is little more than Milton's own con- 
clusions, misapplied by a mind that has taken fire from the imaginative 
element of Paradise Lost.*" 

But the great religious influence of Milton tended in the direction 
of Mysticism. The great poet was himself a Mystic in religion and 
poetry, for the two were one in his thought. He believed in the direct 
impulse of the Spirit. His religious gravitation was toward Quakerism. 
His great Epic was produced under the conscious inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit. His direct appeal is to the divine that is in man. That 
appeal, moreover, found considerable response in the heart of eighteenth 
centurj' English Mysticism. William Law, the greatest mystic of the 
mid-century, was not unfamiliar with the words of the divine Milton. 
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was a student of Milton, and 
late in life (1791) edited Extracts from Paradise Lost. Thomas Hart- 
ley, an exact contemporary with Dr. Johnson, but a Millennialist and an 
admirer of Wesley, manifested an interest in Milton's Epies.-*^ 

Milton's influence, however, was more upon the inner life of the 
Nation, than efl'ective through any individual leadership. His whole 
conception of life was essentially mystical; and the breathing of his 
spirit, perhaps more than any other force, brought new life into the 
dry bones of the classical faith. Milton's influence was powerful because 
he re-introduced into the life of England an other-world element which 
deepened the religious life of the nation. It was this mystical relation 
with the eternal world of the spirit in Milton that counted for the largest 
results. Leslie Stephen has very well said : 

"With Shakespeare, or Sir Thomas Browne, or Jeremy Taylor, or Milton, 
man is contemplated in his relations to the universal ; he is in the presence of 
eternity and infinity; life is a brief drama; heaven and hell are behind the veil of 
phenomena ; at every step our friends vanish into the abyss of ever present mys- 
tery. To all such thoughts the (classical) writers of the eighteenth century seemed 
to close their eyes as resolutely as possible."'*- 

^^Mo. Rev. Appendix, 1766. 34:538-547- 

*iThos. Hartley (1709-1784"). Paradise Restored: Or, .A Testimony to the 
Doctrne of the Blessed Millennium. (1764.) Cr. Rev., March, 1764, 17:167-172. 
Cf. the Diet. Xat'l. Biog., "Hartley." 

*-Hist. of Eng. thought in 18th. Century. H, p. 370. 



222 THE MILTON TRADITION [314 

"The essence of romance is mystery," says Dr. F. H. Hedge. That 
fondness for the mysteries, which inheres in Romanticism, he attributes 
to the early "influence of the Christian Religion; which deepened im- 
measurably the mystery of life, suggesting something behind and be- 
yond the world of sense."'"' Professor Beers has defined the "deeper 
significance" of Romanticism to be a desire for the re-introduction of 
just that spirit of religion which produced the romance — "a reaching 
out of the human spirit after a more ideal type of religion and ethics 
than it could find in the official churchmanship and formal morality of 
the time. ' '" Romanticism in religion is fundamentally a yearning for a 
conscious vital contact or union of the soul with the unseen, but real, 
world of the spirit. 

Among the means that helped to satisfy this yearning of the 
religious spirit of the Eighteenth Century, Paradise Lost occupied a 
position of double strength. As the embodiment of a powerful mystical 
conception of life, the poem held a didactic position second only to the 
English Bible, and was only a little less widely known. These forces 
led the way, and Bunyan was not far behind. Through these forces an 
entrance was made into the world of the spirit. But another means was 
added to vivify the reality of that spirit-world. The means introduced 
was the vital, vivid, satisfying faith of the Medieval Religious Romances. 
But in those Romances, it was soon discovered that the nation was only 
receiving the faith of Milton in dilute form. The great Poet had 
breathed tlie vital breath of the old Romances, and treasured their vital- 
ity in the greater Romance of Paradise Lost, with which Medieval Faith 
had nothing worthy to compare. Thus the whole Medieval Revival, on 
its religious side, served to enhance the religious influence of Milton's 
great religious Poem. 

"Milton's fame was something which depended a good deal on 
politics."*^ This fact argues a very close relation between him and the 
political interests and influences of any particular period. But the 
fame that came to Milton from such relations was never a matter of 
charity. His political friends designed to profit by their favours; and 
certainly Milton supported his friends with an influence that more than 
repaid all their kindnesses. Thus the Whig Party, as early as 1688, 
exalted Milton, and he, in turn, did much to bring about an ultimate 
triumph of many of the Whig principles. The very bitterness of Dr. 
Johnson 's Tory attack upon Milton was a clear receipt to the great Poet 
for all his political obligations. But even in polities, it was through 

<3Dr. F. H. Hedge, Classic and Romantic. Atlantic Monthly, March, 1886, 
vol. 57. 

**A Hist, of Eng. Rom. in the 18th. Cent., p. 32. 

"T. S. Perry, A Hist, of Eng. Lit. in the 18th. Cent., pp. 35-36. 



315] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON, 1765-1801 223 

Paradise Lost that Milton attained his throne of influence ; and it was 
very largely from the authority of that poetical throne that he reigned 
over social and political thought. 

John Morley regards Milton as the real father of "spiritual and 
speculative freedom" for England, and, in a sense, for the world. 

"Milton's moving argument, at once so delicate and so haughty, for the rights 
and self-respecting obligation of "that inner man which may be termed the spirit 
of the soul,' is the hidden mainspring of the revolt against formalism, against 
authority, and almost against church organization in any of its forms."^^ 

Much the same was said, a generation earlier, by Mr. Alfred H. 
Welsh : 

"During a long, sultry mid-day of twenty years (1640-1660), Milton gave 
himself to the championship of ideas — ideas that were to emancipate the press — 
ideas that plucked at thrones— ideas that were to raise up commonwealths."*^ 

These ideas with their appeal to the indefeasible rights of men,*' were 
partly worked out in prose by Milton in the broils of the Civil War, 
and, in his Epics, refined, completed, and laid up in an immortal repos- 
itory. Thus Milton worked his ideas upward into that dream of an ideal 
commonwealth which has exercised an immeasurable influence upon the 
democratic destinies of England." With the element of liberty, Milton 
combined that of Righteousness, as lying equally at the basis of individ- 
ual and social happiness. He fortified his ideal commonwealth, there- 
fore, with those direct instructions that make for happiness, and with 
that powerful exposition of social and national evils set forth in Adam's 
Vision of Sin and Death. 

Milton added to his ideas, powerful in themselves, the crowning 
glory of poetical expression, which gave them a doubly effective appeal 
to the eighteenth century imagination. The power of his appeal was 
felt to be a molding force in public life. Milton was exalted above 
Locke by William J. Mickle (1735-1788), in an argument of two closely 
printed pages, and poetry in general was considered siiperior to philoso- 
phy as a civilizer. When Mickle came to define that powerful poetry, 
he appealed to Milton, as an authority in the Tractate, and as an exam- 

^^Oliver Cromwell 1910, pp. 174-175. 
*''Dev. of Eng. Lit. and Language, 1883, I, 473. 
<*Leslie Stephen. Hobbes, pp. 205-206. 

*^Francis B. Gummere. Democracy and Poetry, 191 1, pp. 38-43. 
It is important to recall, in this connection, that reformers, since Milton's day, 
have been, as a rule, readers of his works, and of Paradise Lost in particular. 



224 THE MILTON TRADITION [316 

pie iu Paradise Lost, for an exposition of what true and effective poetry 
must contain."'" 

Milton's ideas worked out their political influence largely through 
the Whig Party, which was the rendezvous of liberalism and republican 
tendencies. Within this party, and through its influence, Paradise Lost 
had received its first great national recognition and applause. Within 
this party, Toland, Joseph Washington, and others, in the last decade 
of the Seventeenth Century, had recommended Milton's Prose Writings 
as important to the cause of liberty ; and, a generation later, that group 
of liberals, led by such men as Birch, Baron, and Hollis, had, by per- 
sistent effort, secured for Milton's Prose Works a wide acceptance with 
the English reading public. Gradually and persistently, Milton had 
come to be regarded as a very great source of influence for reforms 
within the constitutional limitations adhered to by the Whig Party. 

This influence, with its ever increasing volume, passed over into the 
last great period of the Eighteenth Centurj' (1765-1801). The i-efrain 
of larger liberty was caught up by the passionate enthusiasm of Mrs. 
Macaulay Graham, the historian (Appendix C), and Milton was at least 
negatively supported bj^ the historian, William Harris (1720-1770), both 
of whose writings were widely read. Hollis himself, was, until 1774, 
a living link between the earlier labours of his party and this later 
period. Blackburne, another prominent member of the earlier group, 
who died in 1787, continued to publish and recommend Milton, and 
was regarded as a sort of national champion of the Poet 's honour against 
the ungoverned assaults of Toryism from the pen of Dr. Johnson. 

Birch and Baron had both died in 1766, but their earlier labours 
in the cause of liberty, which they identified largely with the views of 
Milton, were received with an appreciation that approached the spirit 
of public gratitude. Birch was usually mentioned in terms very com- 
plimentary. Baron, who was at heart a republican, was, with good 
reasons, remembered as an example of labour and sacrifice in the ad- 
vancement of Milton's influence. Baron had spent his income almost 
entirely in the cause of liberty. At his own expense, he had printed 
an edition of the Eikonoclastes. This edition was published, for the 
benefit of Baron's needy family, in 1770, with tlie following praise- 
worthj' comment upon the public spirited editor: 

"No heart ever glowed witli a more ardent and generous warnitli in tlie cause 
of religious and civil liberty than Mr. Baron's. He wrote, he published and re- 
published perpetually in its defence." The writer cited, with approval, Baron's 
estimate of Milton, as "perhaps the greatest (genius) that ever appeared among 

=°Wm. J. Mickle. The Life of Lois De Caiiioeits (1517-1579). Chalmers, Eng. 
Poets, 21 :598-6os, p. 604, note to. Written in 1775. 



317] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 225 

men. He had the highest sense of liberty, glorious thoughts, with a strong and 
nervous style. His works are full of wisdom, a treasure of knowledge."''' 

With such emphasis persistently laid upon Milton's views, one is 
not surprised to find that Milton came to be regarded as a champion of 
those very reforms within the State which were felt to be necessary 
during the last decades of the Eighteenth Century.^^ Nor is one surprised 
to find tliat political radicalism, which sprang up mainly within the 
Whig Party, and grew into a powerful independent movement, felt, in 
an effective manner, the influence of Milton. This great poet and polit- 
ical writer, at that time so popular with the English people, had himself 
a century before stood for very radical measures in Church and State. 
There was, therefore, a natural bond of sympathy between Milton, and 
such Radicals as Rousseau and Godwin, Paine and Mirabeau, who stood, 
in various ways, for the subverting of the existing order of society and 
government. At least three of these leaders of radicalism were students 
of Milton; and they seem to show altogether many traces of radical 
influence from his Prose Works and Paradise Lost. Perhaps it was the 
radicalism of Milton, speaking through eighteenth century radicals, 
which convinced Thomas Warton that Milton's Prose tended to subvert 
the present institutions of the nation. ^^ 

Political radicalism in the Eighteenth Century had a positive and a 
negative side, both of which probably received heavy influence from 
Milton. On the negative side, their very radicalism formed a point of 
contact between the radicals and the radical movement of the seven- 
teenth century. Radical writers, as a rule, would naturally sympathize 
with the overthrow of the government in the Civil War, and would no 
less naturally turn to Milton, the great Mind of that radical movement, 
who was regarded hy the liberal element of their own countrymen as 
an oracle of social and political wisdom, for a popular support of their 
own ungoverned extremes. 

The logical connections of thought and influence seem to be close. 
Milton had contended for revolution of government. Later radicals 
went to the extreme of subverting government as essentially an evil. 

5iMo. Rev., April, 1771, 44:334-336. 

''^Gray felt that there was permanent value in Milton's Pancyyrlc, tlie Dc 
Pace, Areopagitica, and the Advice to Philip, but it must be distinguished from 
his occasional opinions of things. Letter to The Rev. Norton NichoUs, April 14, 
1770. Works (Gosse), 1SS4, HI, 360. Gregorio Leti, Life of Cronnvell, called him 
"the Tyrant without vices," and declared Milton's praise upon Cromwell not more 
than he deserved. Cr. Rev., Feb., 1783, 55:iS5n. 

^^Milton's Poems, 1791. Preface, xiii-xiv. These strictures of Warton were 
answered by Wm. Hayley, in the Dedication of his Life of Milton (1794), in- 
scribed to Joseph Warton. Cited by the Mo. Rev., 1796, 100(19) -253- 



226 THE MILTON TRADITION [318 

Milton had gone back of the Constitution to justify the riddance of a 
bad king.^* Later radicals appealed to what they considered first prin- 
ciples in an attempt to overthrow the institution of kingship. The 
sanction of such extremes may have been felt in Paradise Lost, where 
Milton drew his Pandemonium with an eye upon the debased Court of 
Charles II., pictured the Infernal Organization as sort of political 
hierarchy, and Satan himself as an Oriental despot, who felt that 

"To rule is worth ambition, though in Hell."=^ 

Milton had also found the Church of his day inadequate to the 
demands of true spiritual liberty, and had laid the responsibility of 
this condition at the door of priest and presbyter. This charge appeared 
in its generalii;ed form in the writings of eighteenth century radicals, 
who attacked religious organizations of all times. The whole order of 
the church was held to be a source of social evils, an institution that had 
gradually sprung up under the direction of leaders who were bent upon 
oppression. The re-publication of Milton's Tracts upon the Church was 
an index of his importance in this connection, while the simple worship 
portrayed in Paradise Lost had ever operated upon the liberal imagina- 
tion toward the same conclusions. 

The leading radicals of the Eighteenth Century believed in the inher- 
ent goodness of human nature, which was, as they thought, able from 
within to control the conduct of life. All government was, therefore, 
in the nature of a restraint upon the inner rights of man ; a view that 
seems easily traceable to Milton, whose conception of man has here been 
shorn of its inner and essential divinity. In the eighteenth century 
view, unqualified liberty of the individual was the ideal ; and some even 
held that government of any kind was an evil, to be endured only for 
the restraint of fools. 

To argue these convictions most advantageously, political theorists 
called for a return to an imaginary "state of nature," where there 

^^"Wheh, indeed, you cut off a king's head you have to appeal to general 
principles. Constitutional principles are not available. Milton had to claim inde- 
feasible rights for the people, and men like honest John Lilburne used language 
which anticipated Paine's Rights of Man." Leslie Stephen, Hobbcs, pp. 205-206. 

^^Paradise Lost, I, 262. Cf. also II, 1-6, 43 ff, 378, 446, 510. 

This obnoxious aspect of Satan's character was not unfelt and not unapplied. 
Bonaparte, turned conqueror, was compared to Satan, and the results to British 
possessions in India from Bonaparte's proposed invasion of the East were com- 
pared to the results of Satan's passage over the Bridge through Chaos to the 
Earth, Eyles Irwin, Esq., Buonaparte in Egypt: or. An Appendix to the Enquiry 
into his Supposed Expedition to the East (1798). Mo. Rev., Jan., 1799, 109(28): 
H3-II4- 



319] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON, 1765-1801 227 

were no governments, and no need for them. From these early imagi- 
nary and ideal conditions, the philosophical politicians undertook to 
build up various theories of the origin and development of society and 
government, always intending to show thereby the origin and develop- 
ment of disorder and distress. There was a certain general union be- 
tween these philosophical problems of social evil and the great problem 
of evil treated in Paradise Lost, which itself looked at the problem from 
the standpoint of an ideal "state of innocence." 

Moreover, Milton had looked at the development of social evils in 
somewhat the same manner as that of the philosophical radicals, in 
Adam's Vision of Sin and Death {Paradise Lost, Bk. XI). Milton is 
nowhere to be understood as being in opposition to law and order, and 
the restraints of government righteously administered. But in this 
Vision, he has attributed the evils of society to the operation of certain 
vicious principles, the same as those which the later radicals supposed 
to be the vices of modern organizations of church and state. 

Milton attributed the fruits of sin, in the murder of Abel, to that 
principle of religious "envy" which needed only to be magnified to 
national proportions to produce an Inquisition (423-470). Next Milton 
unfolded the Lazar-hou.se scene, with its melancholy aspect of pain and 
misery, due to the intemperance of high life and fast living (471-526). 
After this, and perhaps with meaning in the proportions of space, he 
gave a brief view of old age, and natural decay, as a cause of death 
(527-554). 

In the next long section of the Vision, Milton deals directly with 
the corruption of society. He always held that the proper destiny of 
the individual was conditioned upon the outworking of an inner prin- 
ciple of superior power. In like manner, the happiness and true destiny 
of society was conditioned upon the free play of this first principle of 
life and destiny. In organized life, as in the individual, the operation 
of this principle must be the first concern of the .social unit. This prin- 
ciple must not be neglected ; it must not be submerged bj^ other engross- 
ing interests. To lose the proper empliasis of life is everywhere to open 
the flood gates of corruption. With Milton, of course, the paramount 
principle of life was always a religious principle. 

When Milton described the corruption of the "sons of God" by the 
"daughters of Cain," he attributed the result to the highly "civilized" 
life that comes from whole devotion to arts and sciences, to the neglect 
of the higher and better concerns of life. The seducers were described 
as dwelling in the pleasant "tents of wickedness;" and 
Studious they appear 
Of arts that polish life, inventors rare; 
Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit 
Taught them. 



228 THE MILTON TRADITION [320 

By this class of corrupters, the "just men," whose whole study was 
to worship God aright, and know his works not hid (578), were en- 
trapped, and that, however, only when they had prostituted "wisdom, 
and superior gifts," that had in themselves saving power (555-636). 

In like manner, Milton pictured the standards of war as equally 
degenerating (638-710). Warriors were to him "death's ministers, not 
men !" (679). War was the work of those who hold that might is right, 
and increase their power by the conquest and the spoils of nations. 

In those days might only shall be admired, 

And valour and heroic virtue called. 

To overcome in battle, and subdue 

Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite 

Manslaughter shall be held the highest pitch 

Of human glory, and, for glory done, 

Of triumph to be styled great conquerors, 

Patrons of mankind, gods, and sons of gods — 

Destroyers rightlier called, and Plagues of men. 

Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth, 

And what most merits fame in silence hid. 

(689-699) 
The fruitage of war was conceived to be social distress. As a result 
of conquest, power, luxury, and consequent degeneracy, were the por- 
tion of the mighty, while slavery and degeneracy were the lot of the 
conquered. 

In triumph and luxurious wealth are they 

First seen in acts of prowess eminent 

And great exploits, but of true virtue void ; 

Who, having spilt much blood, and done much waste, 

Subduing nations, and achieved thereby 

Fame in the world, high titles, and rich prey, 

Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth. 

Surfeit, and lust, till wantonness and pride 

Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace. 

The conquered, also, and enslaved by war, 

Shall, with their freedom lost, all virtue lose, 

And fear of God. (788-799). 

Milton also regarded wealth itself as potentially at least a great 
source or cause of social degeneracy. The result is inevitable, when men 
turn from the higher ideals of life. Then wealth becomes a corrupter 
of men and nations. 

For the Earth shall bear 
More than enough, that temperance may be tried. 
So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved, 
Justice and temperance, truth and faith, forgot. 
(804-807). 



321] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 229 

All this Vision in Miltou sounds very much like the schedule of 
social development laid out for the Race by philosophical politicians, 
who insisted upon viewing the problem from the standpoint of an origi- 
nal perfect "state of nature." In their thought, society grew worse 
as it became more complicated. Political governments and ecclesiastical 
orders, with their conquests and inquisitions, were the instruments of 
oppression and tyranny. The rise of kings and priests meant luxury 
on the one hand, and slavery on the other, with degeneracy on both. 
Society, in the modern sense, enthroned custom, the conventional, instead 
of conscience, as the control of life. Civilization fosters crime. Wealth 
centralized in the hands of an individual leads to power, oppression, in- 
temperance, and degeneracy, on the one hand, and to poverty and crime, 
on the other. The first great champion of these general views was Jean 
Jacques Rousseau, in his Arts and Sciences (1750), and Rousseau was a 
student of Paradise Lost.''''' So also were Godwin, and others, who advo- 
cated the same idea of a return to "nature" in order to develop the 
rights and wrongs of men. 

But the philosophical radicals, on the positive side of their theories, 
looked forward, even more than backward. They felt that the demo- 
cratic form of government was the only form that could be tolerated, 
and they believed that that form was soon to be adopted. They were 
convinced that the doom of monarchies was near at hand, and that the 
Golden Age of Liberty was beginning to dawn. Their dreams of the 
new world of Liberty were greatly influenced by the earlier dreams of 
Milton. At his feet, England, and even the Continent, had taken many 
lessons in the principles and outlines of a free Church and State, of 
free thought and expression. The outworking of those principles in 
England, and more openly in France, directed those nations to the larger 
liberties which were realized in the Nineteenth Century. Few forces 
have ever been more fruitful in the cause of larger liberty than the 
ideal dreams of Milton. 

Professor Dowden has already been quoted (Chapter I, p. 21) as 
saying that Milton's "influence on thought, appearing at irregular in- 
tervals, but always associated with political liberalism or radicalism," 
was connected chiefly "with his Prose Writings." But it would seem 
indeed that proportions of Milton's influence can never be determined 
with a great degree of certainty. His Prose Writings were undoubtedly 
influential, as appears from the number of times in which some portions 
of his Prose were published during the rise of radicalism. But during 
the period of the French Revolution (1788-1801), Paradise Lost ap- 

'■"Joseph Texte. Jean Jacques Rousseau and the Cosmopolitan Spirit in Litera- 
ture, pp. Ill, 359. 



230 THE MILTON TRADITION [322 

peared iii uo less than twenty-one editions, — which represented a demand 
for the Poem scarcely precedented in the history of its publication. 

The long, persistent, powerful influence of Paradise Lost upon the 
verse-form of the Eighteenth Century is among the more obvious forces 
that made for Romanticism. Gradually the imitations of his blank 
verse multiplied, and rose to the popular heights of Thomson, Young, 
and others, by the middle of the century. Gradually his critical authority 
in The Verse was recognized and observed. Gradually the idea of verse 
structure conformed to his own liberal conceptions. Much of this prog- 
ress of liberal versification was due to the influence of Paradise Lost, 
which did more than any other single source of influence toward the 
overthrow of the couplet. 

After the powerful support of blank verse in the long poems prior 
to 1765, and in the critical authority of Warton, Young, Webb, and 
others, the strength of the couplet was broken, and rhyme was limited, 
in progressive thought, to the sphere of the smaller kinds of poetry. 
This last period of the centur.y (1765-1801) opened, therefore, with a 
feeling of confidence in the triumpli of the blank verse movement, of 
which Milton Was still regarded the central influence. 

There was, on the whole, a persistent movement, throughout this 
period, toward liberalism in versification.''" The critical opinions of 
Young and others, in the preceding period, re-inforced by an immediate 
appeal to Milton, were widely received as the highest authority. Dr. 
James Beattie (1735-1803), who figured much in the public eye because 
of his Essay on Truth (1770),"- a work which has an aggregate of 
seventy-five pages devoted to Paradise Lost, declared, in that popular 
Treatise, that regularity and rhyme were not essential to poetry, and 
that the proper use of rhyme was limited to a small sphere.''" 

Within its proper limits, some regarded rhyme as an acceptable 
ornament to verse, as in The Deserted Village (1770), by Goldsmith: 
but a favourable critic of that popular poem seemed to feel very keenly 
the limitations imposed upon rhyme."" This feeling forced itself, at 
times, upon those who believed in general that rhyme was essential to 
English poetry. One such critic, who boldly declared himself ' ' no friend 
to blank verse," could not "refuse (his) warmest approbation" to A 
"T. S. Omond, English Mclrists. iStli. and iQtli. Centuries. Oxford Press, 
1907. Chapter II develops the conflict, and .shows a tendency toward liberality in 
the direction of "The New Verse," which he discusses in Chapter III. 

=8H. h. Beers, A Hist. Of Eng. Romanticism in the iSth Cent., />/>. JO-'-Joj, 
gives a brief, but delightful, sketch of Beattie. 

^^By "versification" he means regular measure. Essay on Iruth, /"". II. 294, 
302. He contended that the advantages of rhyme depend much upon custom and 
national- temper. Cf. also pp. 379-383. 
""Cr. Rev., June, 1770, 29:435-443. 



323] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON, 1765-1801 231 

Poetical Essay on the Existence of God, "which was written iu Milton- 
ics."" William H. Roberts had, therefore, the support of a widely 
accepted opinion, when he, in that spirited and popular poetical Epistle 
to Christopher Anstey (1773), limited "the use of rhyme to elegiac, 
lyric, and satiric poetry."*^ 

The influence of Milton's Verse was conspicuous in the decade be- 
tween 1770 and 1780. Roberts made his appeal direct to Milton, when 
he said (1773), 

No, not in rhyme ; I hate that iron chain 

Forged bv the hand of some rude Goth. 

(Trib. is6). 

The author of An Essay upon the Harmony of Language (1774),*^ dis- 
cussed the nature and specific differences between accent and quantity, 
and illustrated these by a minute analysis of several passages from 
Paradise Lost. He "ventured to pronounce rime very disadvantageous 
to heroic verse; excluding numberless beauties, giving none." The au- 
thor, who allowed a place to rhyme, and made due allowance for "the 
high merit of Pope's version of the Iliad," supported the above claim 
by reference directly to Milton. 

The same direct appeal was made by the Rev. John Yourde, in his 
Essay on tJie Origin and Merits of Rhyme (1775). In his zeal for the 

"This Essay was the work of Rev. W. Roberts. Cr. Rev., Jan., 1771, 31 :7i-73. 
«=Roberts, Wm. H. (1745-1791). 

An Epistle to Christopher Anstey, Esq. (1773). 

Return, my Muse: thy wild, unfettered strains, 

Suit not the mournful dirge. Rhyme tunes the pipe 

Of querulous elegy; 'tis rhyme confines 

The lawless numbers of the lyric song. 

Who shall deny the quick-retorted sound 

To satire, when with this she points her scorn, 

Darts her sharp shaft, and whets her venom'd fang? 

Pent in the close of some strong period stands 

The victim's blasted name : the kindred note 

First stamps it on the ear; then oft recalls 

To memory, what were better wrapt at once 

In dark oblivion. Still unrivalled here 

Pope thro' his rich dominion reigns alone : 

Pope, whose immortal strains Thames echoes yet 

Thro' all his winding banks. He smoothed the verse, 

Tuned its soft cadence to the classic ear 

And gave to rhyme the dignity of song. 
Cr. Rev., Jan., 1773, 35:52-54. Mo. Rev., Feb., 1773, 48:145-148. 
"^Reprinted, with slightly varied title, 1804 as the work of Wm. Mitford. 
Cr. Rev., .Aug., 1774, 38:137-143- 



232 THE MILTON TRADITION [324 

liberal form of versification, he "disdainfully renounces the shackles of 
rhyme" in his Translation of the Adventures of Telemachus (1775)."* 
Thomas Sheridan, in his popular Lectures on the Art of Beading (1775, 
1781), seems to have regarded Milton, especially in Paradise Lost, as 
the ultimate authority on Englisli versification. In Part II of these 
Lectures, which deals with "The Art of Reading Verse," Sheridan 
examined the present state of English prosodj', affirmed that English 
verse is composed of feet by accent, and declared that none but Milton 
and Dryden had gone into the mj-stery of numbers. The "admired 
verse" (of all others) "proceeds wholly from the ear and imitation." 
But he showed a decided preference for Milton, drew heavily upon 
Paradise Lost for poetic materials, and applauded the richness and 
variety of Milton's measures above those of all other English poets.°^ 

This forward movement was not, however, witliout a measure of 
discouraging opposition. There was a sort of sunset glow of the couplet 
about the end of the third quarter of the century. Certain poems in the 
couplet, as Goldsmith's Deserted Village (1770) and Anstey's New Bath 
Cruide, were very popular, and mueli imitated. The reactionary feeling 
was strong in some quarters, and seems to have had an influence upon 
James Maepherson (1736-1796), whose earlier Celtic interests had been 
emphatically Romantic. In 1773, he published a new edition of the 
Poems of Ossian, and seems to have half apologized for having "yielded 
to the judgment of others in a mode which presented freedom and dig- 
nity of exjiression, instead of fetters whicli cramp the thought, whilst 
the harmony of language is preserved." He felt constrained to justify 
the want of rhyme, by arguing the gain in simplicitj^ and energy."" 

Pour years earlier (1769), Owen Rulfhead liad published his Life 
of Alexander Pope, in which he professed to find some who preferred 
Pope to Milton. The Critical Review, commenting on this observation, 
was quite certain tliat some with such tastes might be found."' The 
Monthly Review, which seems at times to have antedated Saintbury's 
antipathy to all eighteenth century blank verse, sometimes threw its 
influence heavily on the side of the couplet. 

"*Cr. Rev., July, 1775, 40:82. 

^^Lectures on the Art of Reading. Part II. p. 223 and passim. Cf. also the 
Cr. Rev., July, 1775, 40:37-45, for a popular summary of this work. 

"T/i? Poems of Ossian. .' rols. A'cic cd.. 777.?. See ed. 1807. Preface, dated 
Aug. 13, 1773, pp. V, vi. 

"'Cr. Rev., April, 1769, 27:280-289. This view of Pope may well be contrasted 
with that in the criticism of Gilbert Wakefield's Obs. on Pope (1796). Wakefield 
was himself a Pope enthusiast. But the Critical Rcvieiv (March, 1796, n. s. 2:257- 
264) s.ays, "We confess that, when he puts the invention discoverable in the 
Diinciad, on a par with that of Paradise Lost .... we rather wonder than ap- 



325J THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 233 

Among the strongest personal forces in this movement of antago- 
nism to liberal versification, was Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802). At 
heart, he seems to have hated all blank verse. Like Johnson, Darwin 
directed his antipathies toward the fountain head of the liberal move- 
ment. He might tolerate the more regular blank verse of Akenside, but 
not that of Milton. Darwin hated all sonnets, and especially those of 
Milton. His poetical creed was regularity and rhyme, to which he 
would add polish and sonorous effects. In 1781, Darwin proved the 
courage of his convictions by publishing his ambitious work. The Botanic 
Garden, a poem of 4,334 lines, in the most orthodox type of heroic 
couplets. His ambition was to erect a poetical monument that should 
eclipse the glory of Pope, by improving upon his versification along 
the lines of polish and sonorous qualities."* 

Miss Anna Seward contributed the Exordium for this poem as early 
as 1778."'' While in the process of preparation, the poem seems to have 
been talked of to some extent; and, having been thus advertised before- 
hand, the poem met with a generous applause. Dr. Johnson may have 
deliberately taken advantage of this momentary revival of the old poet- 
ical form and spirit for his political attack upon Milton (1779), whose 
influence upon versification had been more than a match for the couplet. 

Johnson's attack, however, only served to rouse the liberal forces, 
who had not all slept meantime, nor wanted confidence. Mason, who 
recognized that blank verse "was growing much out of vogue," deliber- 
ately wrote his English Garden (1781) in that measure.'" Knox, who 
seems to have preferred rhjTue, affirmed, with an eye on Dr. Johnson, 
the presence of "an unreasonable prejudice entertained against blank 
verse, by those who wish to dictate on the subject of criticism," and 
ascribed to this prejudice the unpopularity of Mason's English Garden.''^ 
About the time that Johnson was meditating his attack, Alexander Kel- 
let thundered into the camp of the couplets the following piece of dog- 
matism, which the Critical Revieiv seems to have quoted with special 
delight at this time. After discussing the fmidamental distinctions be- 
tween pro.se and verse, Kellet said : 

"In an age of ignorance an expedient turned up, that so obviously distin- 
guished prose and poetry, as to lay claim for a time to constitute the essential of 
the last; and that was the Gothic invention of rhyme. (Then he described this 
■"barbarian adjunct to verse" in a long quotation from Milton's Preface.) For 

"^F. Hitchman, Eighteenth Century Studies, p. 379. 

«^Dict. Natl. Biog., Anna Seward (1747-1809), 

'"Wm. Mason, The English Garden. "Postscript." Quoted in the Mo. Rev., 
June, 1782, 66:413. Appendix. 

'iVicessimus Knox (1752-1821). On the Prevailing Taste in Poetry (1779). 
Essays Moral and Literary. No. 129. 



234 THE MILTON TRADITION [326 

though they be not wanting who would make the hitting-off of rhymes an affair 
of genius, it is strictly a matter of memory ; of which he who knows all the 
chiming words in a language must be a complete master ; and B'ysshe's rhyming 
dictionary is, with us, a very convenient supplement to less tenacious heads."'- 

Tlie violence of Johnson brought Cowper at once to the defence of 
Milton's more liberal versification. Cowper informed the public, with 
proof out of Johnson's own mouth, that the great Dictator could not 
read blank verse." Cowper's Tabic Talk (Written 1780-1), Leslie Ste- 
phen considers, "in the attack upon Pope's smoothness and the admira- 
tion of Churchill's rough vigour, the first clear manifesto of the literary 
revolution afterwards led by Wordsworth."'* But most effective of all 
his arguments was Cowper's Task, written in blank verse, and published 
in 1785, a poem sufficiently effective to start a new line of Milton-Cowper 
imitations. 

In 1781 John Walker (1732-1807) gave specific instructions for the 
reading of blank verse. "^ The same year Sheridan's Lectures on the 
same subject were reprinted. The next year Dr. Joseph Warton pub- 
lished tlie second volume of his Essay on Pope, on the authority of 
which Tyrwhitt suggested, with a touch of irony, that "one may perhaps 
venture to avow an opinion that poetry is not confined to rhyming 
couplets."'" With these rejoinders, the victory seemed complete, and 
the liberal critics turn their attention more directly to the study of 
blank verse in itself, with much less reference to the old controversy. 
By tlie end of the century, John Aikin was complaining that the poets 
of the time were not even conforming to the mechanical matters of 

'■-A Pocket of Prose and Verse (1778). Cr. Rev., Dec, 1778, 46:456-461. 

The "rhyming dictionary" idea was in the air at that time, and seems to have 
been used as a taunt toward the couplet-writers. In 1775, J. Walker published 
A Diet, of the Eng. Lang., anszvervig at once the Purposes of Rhyming, Styelling, 
&c. (Cr. Rev., 39:116.) This work was spoken of in 1779 as a "Diet of Rhinies 
for the Use of Small Poets." (Cr. Rev., 48:119.) A little later the Rev. John 
Truster published Poetic Endings: or, a Diet, of Rhimes, Single and Double. This 
was ironically reviewed as a work of "benevolence to a set of geniuses, who fre- 
quently want a little charitable assistance, that is. the minor poets." (Cr. Rev., 
Jan., 1784, 57 79-) 

"Wm. Cowper (1731-1800). To the Rci: Walter Bagol, Feb. 6, 1791. Hay- 
ley's Life of Cozi'per, 1S12, III, 270-271. He allowed rhyme to be a "part of the 
conceit" in smaller poems. Corresp. with Lord Thurlow. Hayley's Life, III, 346- 
3SS. To The Rev. Walter Bagot. .\ug. 31, 1786: Jan. 4, 1791. Hayley's Life, III, 
29-30, 264. 

^■•Dictionary National Biography. "Cowper''. 

'■•Elements of Elocution, 2 vols. 1781 and 1799. Mo. Rev., .\ug.. 1781 ; Jan.. 
1800. 

'''Letter prefi.xed to Warton's Essay on Pope. 5th ed. Vol, T. 



327] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 235 

spelling, punctuation, &c. — all of which was looked upon by him as 
liberty run riot." 

The total influence of Milton's rfrsc-Form, as it shaped itself under 
these conditions, appears in at least five different forms. (1) As a war- 
cry. The Eomantic element rallied around Milton, and cultivated his 
verse-form as an effective medium of expressing antipathy to ueo-clas- 
sieism. (2) As a standard of excellence in the technique of versification. 
The harmonies of Milton's blank verse became the goal of poetic ambi- 
tion, and the touchstone of learned criticism. (3) As an expression of 
authority. This involves the dicta of Milton's "Preface," made good 
by the example of his Poems. Here is a contradiction, but such is life 
in manj^ of its expressions. Even the radical Romanticist would bow- 
to the authority of Milton, when he declared rhyme the invention of a 
barbarous age. Where the heart is, there obedience follows and author- 
ity is not a burden. Besides this, the very bigness of Milton carried 
conviction, precluding the possibility of mistake, as it would appear to 
his devotees. (4) As a pattern for imitation. Under the influence of 
Milton there was a very large volume of blank verse, whose liighest 
peaks of excellence were sufficiently elevated for permanent recognition. 
(5) As a sanction of poetical license in matters of form. Milton was 
not under the laws of poetry, for he enjoyed the liberty of a great 
creative genius. But this very superiority served as a sanction for some 
to abandon all restraints that hindered the free expression of the multi- 
form Romantic feelings. Tliis amounts again to a contradiction — that 
of looking to authority for sanction of a revolt against the restraints of 
authority. But the impulse of this principle produced much that is 
wild, vague, and incoherent, as well as some excellent original work in 
the Romantic Movement. 

In the field of literary criticism, Milton was considered by many as 
a standard of excellence.'^ He was set by the side of Homer,"" and 
sometimes above the Grecian Bard (cf. Tributes). There was among his 

^"John Aikin, Letters of a Father to His Son (1798-1799), Letter v. On the 
Taste for Poetry. Vol. II, p. 259. 

'^Milton was also regarded as an authority on the early conditions of poetry, 
as portrayed in P. L. On the antiquit}' of the pastoral muse, Greene says. "Whether 
the patriarchs of old with our parents in Milton piously broke out into the praise 
of the Creator, or reflected in silence on the beauties of the earth, their hymns, 
or their meditations, must liave been purely pastoral." An Essay on Pastoral 
Poetry, prefixed to the Idyllinnis of Theocritus. Translated by Fa-c/cc.r (1767). 
Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 20:166-169. 

'"Rev. Richard Polwhele. An Essay on the Comparative Learning and Moral- 
ity of the Ancients and Moderns. Appended to Discnnrscs on Different Subjects 
(2nd. ed., 1791). Cr. Rev., .\ug., 1791, 368-373. 



236 THE MILTON TRADITION [328 

devotees a strong feeling of impatience with any attempt to write Milton 
down.^" The widely prevailing opinion was, that "If any glance of 
mortal Ken could soar from earth to heaven, or penetrate the mysteries 
of other worlds, it may fairly be pronounced, even by English critics, 
without any imputation of partiality, that the poet of Paradise possessed 
the peculiar power. "*^ 

The poet and the poem that had attained this eminence were, with 
several important critics, the basis for measuring poetic values in the 
works of others. The Critical Review, recognizing that most writers of 
blank verse were seriously striving to imitate Milton, attempted fre- 
quently to determine to what extent these writers had, or had not, at- 
tained the qualities of Milton 's verse. Paradise Lost, as a basis for verse 
criticism, was the out-working of Milton's Preface on versification, pre- 
fixed to the Epic, and the two were usually thought of together. To 
this high authority, as a hypothetical basis upon which to censure the 
works of Spenser, Dr. Johnson made an appeal in 1751. "If it be justly 
observed by Milton," argued the Doctor, "that rhjTue obliges poets to 
express their thoughts in improper terms, these improprieties must 
always be multiplied, as the difficulty of rhyme is increased by long 
concatenations. ' "= 

Thomas Warton, in his History of English Poetry,^^ extended the 
application of this Miltonic standard to the subject of English poetry. 
Warton 's references to Milton are many; and, so far as Hazlitt's "In- 
dex" (ed. 1871) shows, they are all to Paradise Lost, except two, which 
are to Comus. William J. Mickle, who published his Translation of the 
Lusiad of Camoens (1775), included among other things in the Prefa- 
tory Matters of that performance, A Dissertation on the Lusiad, and 
Observations upon Epic Poetry. In this discussion, he practically meas- 
ured the Lusiad of Camoens by the Paradise Lost of Milton.** In a less 
pretentious manner, William Mason, who observed that Milton's father 
and Gray's were of the same calling ("a money-scrivener"), subjected 
Gray to the standards very largely of Paradise Lost, in his edition of 
Gray (1775).*'' Even the diction of Milton's Epic became a standard 

'"An offense of this kind, in his Elementary Principles of the Belles Lettres, 
Translated from the French by the late Mr. Slopcr Foreman (1766), was held to 
prove M. Formey unqualified to treat the subject he had in hand. Cr. Rev., July, 
1766, 22:50-55. 

^'^The Indian Observer, Nos. 20 and 34. Drake's Cleaner, vol. IV, No. 168, 
p, 255. On the Pozver of Music. 

»-The Rambler, No. 121, May 14, I75l- Works, iS.\=,. II, 5. 

s^Thomas Warton, Hist of Eng. Poetry. Vol. I, 1774; II, 1778; III, 1781. 

s^Chalmers, English Poets. 21 :6o6-624. 

s''Cf. the Foot-notes, and the Cr. Rev., May, 1773, 39:378-388. 



329] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 237 

for poetry, aud was praised for having the simplicity of commou life.** 

The great literary influence of Paradise Lost lies chiefly in its mani- 
fold contact with the inner spirit of Romantic literature and literary 
interests. This unique poem, sublime, moral, universal, imaginative, 
mystical, was remarkably fitted to touch effectively all sides of the 
re-awakened literary spirit of the Age. 

The wide interests in this poem fell directly into the full currents 
of the literary movement. The Oriental element in the Epic is obvious, 
and was not unobserved. Its earthly setting was in the romantic regions 
of Eden. Its coloring aud gorgeous splendor are largely from the East. 
Its inexhaustible wealth of Allusion points frequently in the same direc- 
tion. These features, quickened the romantic imagination into a glow, 
and formed an immediate contact, stimulative, if not actually productive, 
with the strong current of Orientalism, which came in early, and per- 
sisted throughout the century. 

One aspect of Orientalism that had more tlian commou interest wa.s 
that of the Eastern gardens. Those paradises had a romantic interest 
of their own. That interest was deepened by their constant association 
with Milton's Eden. That interest was translated into practical life 
through the influence of Oriental gardens upon English landscape 
gardening, an activity upon which Milton's Eden exercised considerable 
direct influence.'" Thus the circle of interest was completed, and made 
trebly strong, between Milton and this phase of Orientalism. 

Milton, Gothic, and Medieval Romances belong in something of the 
same manner to the romantic world of the imagination. There is a 
strong aiifinity between some of the "most inflamed" passages of Milton 
and the Gothic spirit in chivalry. This affinity was felt in the Eighteenth 
Century, as Professor Beers, who speaks with authority on the Revival- 
elements of Romanticism, has very well pointed out.** The pseudo- 
classical attitude toward the Gothic strengthened its early alliance with 
the Romantic tendencies; while Milton's Romantic predilections for the 
Gothic brought him and the Gothic Revival close together. 

The connections between Milton and the Revival of Medieval Ro- 
mances were close, and probably fruitful. Milton's literary tastes 
inclined him early in life toward this romantic world of imagination. 
"I betook me," he wrote in An Apology for Smcctymnuus, "among those 
lofty fables and romances which recount in solemn cantos the deeds of 
knighthood." Deeply interested in this poetical wealth, he meditated the 
Arthurian Legends as the subject of his own proposed masterpiece 
*^Wm. Roberts (1767-1849). The Looker-On. No. 78. Nov. 9, 1793. British 
Essayists, 1833, 37 : No. 78. S. T. Coleridge, Biographia Litcrarin, ed. Shedd, Vol. 
Ill, Chap. -xvii. 

"Appendix I, p. 268. 

ss.-i Hist, of Eng. Roiiiniiticisiii, 225-227. 



238 THE MILTON TRADITION [330 

{Mansiis, lines 80-84, 162-168). This subject was finallj- given up for 
Paradise Lost, which is essentially a larger Romance, with a limitless 
imaginative and other-world appeal. 

But the "matter of Britain," as Professor Beers has very well 
pointed out, never lost its fascination to Milton, and re-appeared in both 
of his Epics.*"* In Paradise Lost, one may find such stimulating ref- 
erences as. 

What resounds 
In fable or romance of Uther's son; 
Begirt with British and Armoric knights ; 
And all who since, baptized or infidel, 
Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban ; 
Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebiscond ; 
Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore 
Wlien Charleniain with all his peerage fell 
By Fontarabbia." (Book I, 579-587). 

Or, in Paradise Regained, where. 

Faery damsels met in forest wide 
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, 
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore." 

(Book II, 359-361). 

The supernatural in Milton was always prominent, and the fairy- 
land world-of-romauce character of Paradise Lost was sometimes re- 
garded as a blemish in the Epic. In view of this feeling, and the avidity 
with which the details of Milton were even curiously studied, such con- 
necting links between him and Medievalism, as those cited above, must 
have been very stimulating to the reviving interest in that Middle Age 
world of the imagination. 

Paradise Lost was not without considerable influence upon the de- 
scriptive tendencies in Romantic poetry. The volume of descriptive 
poetry, in both the great schools of versification, was increasingly im- 
mense. The pseudo-classical faction found their constant model in 
Cooper's Hill (1642), by Sir John Denham (1615-1669). This poem, in 
heroic couplets, represented the poet as looking out from an eminence 
upon the surrounding country, and river, and city. The poem was 
popular, and the scheme of description was often repeated in the 
Eighteenth Century. But the romantic spirit of wildness, coupled with 
that of liberalism in verse-form, found excellence and inspiration in the 
descriptive portions of Paradise Lost. The tendency of this influence was 
toward a union with mysticism, and a mystical interpretation of external 

'"Same, pp. 146-147. 



331] THE KOJIANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON, 1765-1801 239 

nature. More and more it became the Miltonie sun, far off at times but 
still effective, that warmed the romantic landscape with the glow of 
poetry. 

But deeper than anything j'et mentioned, was the quickening influ- 
ence of Milton's Epic upon the very spirit of poetry. The spirit of 
Paradise Lost permeated, as far as the shackles would allow, the serious 
heroic couplets of the age. Any one may feel that spirit while reading 
such poems as Boyse's Deity (1739), or almost any other religious or 
moral poem of the Eighteenth Century. Among the Eomantic poets, the 
kindling power of Milton's imagination was immeasurable. 

Here is one of the most fundamental and important differences be- 
tween the influence of the Minor Poems and that of the Major. The Minor 
Poems influenced mainly the outward form and expression of sentiments 
that were already strong in the nation before these Poems emerged into 
prominence. But the influence of the Major Poems reached and quickened 
the secret springs where poetry is generated and whence it flows. Lim- 
ited to the question of form, the molding influence of the Epic far ex- 
ceeded that from the Minor Poems, whether the comparison have refer- 
ence to volume or quality. But any definite measurement of quality is 
obviously impossible; for the poetic spirit of many imitations of the 
Minor Poems came directly from the quickening influence of Milton's 
Epic. This is strikingly evident in Collins, and Gray, and often in the 
Wartons, and almost alwaj'S in Ogilvie, and Beattie, and Mason. It is 
the hand of Penseroso, to be sure ; but the voice is that of Paradise Lost, 
often faint, but unmistakable nevertheless. 

Komanticism always exalted the imaginative element in literature, 
and a large influence in this direction came from Paradise Lost. Milton, 
in theory, practice, and inspiration, comes more and more definitely to 
stand for the perfection of imaginative poetry, as conceived by the 
Romantic school. This school emphasized the subjective and self-con- 
scious elements in literature. Mr. Dowden is quite right in defining 
these elements as relics of Puritanism transfused through Paradise Lost.^° 
Closely akin to these was the spirit of expansiveness which characterized 
all the ambitious attempts of Romantic aspiration, and demanded the 
freedom of expression found in blank verse. This, too, may at times be 
traced to the influence of Milton upon Romantic feelings. Much of the 
verse thus produced was very poor poetry; for every soul kindled to a 
glow by Milton's influence was not the soul of a poet. Those who had 
poetic genius had also a measure of individuality that is stamped upon 
their verse. In a sense, it is correct, therefore, to say that the verse of 
Thomson, Young, and Akenside, is not the verse of Milton, and that 

^"Edw. Dowden. Puritanism and English Literature. Living Age, 1S99, 222 : 



240 THE MILTON TRADITION [332 

tlieir tliouglits are not his thoughts. But it is quite iucorrect to say that 
auy aspiring spirit of the whole school, whether great or small, wrote 
apart from the boundless influence of Milton ; and to deny that the more 
lofty the individual genius tlie more he has felt tlie real power of his 
matchless master. 

The influence of Milton upon the didactic and purely religious ele- 
ment in the eighteenth century poetry was direct, powerful, and almost 
entirely from Paradise Lost. Milton stood for Aristotelian conceptions 
of poetic art, that poetry was to please and to instruct, but with the 
heavier emphasis upon the latter function. He had but one standard for 
the poet, for poetic theory, and for poetic practice. "Within his own soul, 
and throughout all his Prose and Verse, the reader is conscious of an 
uncompromising struggle between Milton and the Powers of Darkness. 
The battle is ever in array. As conceived by Milton, the consecrated 
office of the poet made him a prophet of God, the herald of ideals that 
knew no compromise with evil. 

As seen, therefore, from this angle, by the moralizing Eighteenth 
Century, Milton was not only the greatest of all poets, but he was greatest 
very largely because he was felt to be the greatest preacher of right- 
eousness. Gradually the English public had come to tliis conviction 
through the contemplation of Milton's great social, political, and spiritual 
message to the world. In this capacity Milton became, as in other things, 
a poetic example and inspiration. To him, perhaps more than to any 
other single force, is chargeable the heavy moral yoke that was placed 
upon poetry during the Eighteenth Century. Under his influence the 
religious Parnassus became a theological seminary; and the poetic muse 
entered the common walks of life as a formal school-mistress, discoursing, 
in endless blank verse, about the arts, and ornaments, and duties of life. 
The tendencies to paraphrase exalted portions of Scripture, to sermonize 
thereon in blank verse, and to write endless moral and biblical epics in 
the same measure, were products, in part at least, of the same fruitful 
influence. 

This influence was connected closely with that "high seriousness" 
of Milton 's poetic art which impressed, with increasing force, the develop- 
ing mind of Romanticism."^ Milton was a man witli a soul-absorbing 
devotion to an exalted ideal, M-hich rendered him superior to the vicissi- 
tudes of time and place. This seriousness of art worked its way gradually 
into the consciousness of England under the towering influence of Mil- 
ton. The conviction found something that approaches classical expres- 
sion in the following words of Vicesimus Knox (1752-1821), which are all 

s'lt is interesting to observe that Milton had a well defined "literary gospel", 
in the later sense of that term. Had he lived in the nineteenth century, he would 
have taken his proper place with a message, among such writers as Carlyle, Mill, 
Kingsley, Newman, and others, who had their various remedies for social ills. 



333] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 241 

the more interesting in that they fell, in 1788, mid-way between Milton 
(d. 1674) and Matthew Arnold (d. 1888). 

"Let the man of genius love his muse, and his muse shall reward him with 
sweet sensations : with pictures and images of beautiful nature, and with a noble 
generosity of spirit which can look down with pity, contempt, or total indifference 
on patrons who have often as little sense to understand, as liberality to reward 
him." "Milton was poor and unpatronized, and so was Shakespeare. A miserable 
pittance bought that poem which is one of the first honours, not only of this na- 
tion, but of human nature. But is it not credible, that Milton and Shakespeare 
had internal delights, a luxury of soul, which is unknown to the dull tribe who 
are often rewarded with pensions and promotions, and which many patrons, with 
all their pomp and power, would envy, if they were capable of conceiving the 
exquisite pleasure."^- 

The explanation of Milton's influence upon the currents of eight- 
eenth century life which made up the Komantic movement is not to be 
found in any small view, or isolated segment, of the great work of this 
man, whose labors as politician, historian, and theologian, were crystal- 
lized in the artistic hands of the consecrated poet. The secret of his 
power was the unity of his message, the permeating, soul-stirring, life- 
dii'ecting influence that arose from a contemplation of Milton's vision 
of the moral order of the universe. 

Milton's vision of moral order lent itself readily to Romantic feel- 
ings. It furnished a boundless progressive outlet for aspirations, 
whether individual, social, or national. Milton was an idealist, a dreamer 
of better days and better things than England had ever yet attained. 
His power over the Romantic movement from this point of view was 
inevitable. 

The ancient Plebrews dreamed upon their national Theocracy, and 
in time saw the Shekinah fill the Holy Temple."^ Greece had her ideals 
of Beauty, dreamed upon them, and realized her destiny as the world's 
example and instructor in Art. Rome dreamed of law and order, and 
merged the civilized world into one vast organization. The Renaissance 
had its various dreams, and attained Protestantism, with its various forms 
of intellectual freedom. England, too, had had her Vision, worked out 
in the long struggle that culminated in the Civil War of the Seventeenth 
Century, and revealed to the nation through the prophetic insight of 
Milton, who felt the universal significance of that struggle. He saw in 
it the struggling principles that make for universal liberty. Those prin- 

^'-Brit. Essayists, iSiy, vol. xxix, No. 4, p. 35. Cf. also a criticism of Beattie's 
Essay on Truth, which considered instruction, and not pleasure the "grand pur- 
pose" of poetry. Cr. Rev., March, 1778, 45:185. 

^H. Kings, 8:10. 



242 THE MILTON TRADITIOX [334 

ciples he bodied forth in a comprehensive conception of liberty, limited 
to no nation, but possible to all, which might have brought England to 
the fulfillment of her destiny, in teaching the world Liberty, as the 
Hebrews had taught Religion, the Greeks Art, and the Romans Law and 
Organization. 

But unheeding the lessons of history, England had scorned her 
Vision. She erected altars to Baal and Ashtaroth in the high places of 
politics, and went a-whoring after royaltj' that was stranger to her 
Vision. In spite of warning, the Vision was lost to the nation; and 
"where there is no vision, the people perish." Seventy Years of Baby- 
lonish captivity was the result : seventy years of national bondage to the 
disintegrating forces of death and decay. But the faithful remnant 
carried the altar-fires into the land of depression, and kept them daily 
burning. They kept the Vision distantly in sight. Though their harps 
hung upon the willow trees, yet they "remembered Zion;" and refused 
to bow the knee to King Nebuchadnezzar. The Daniels thundered the 
old truth into the courts. Tlie Bzekiels, among the common people, still 
saw the River of Life. Thus was the way prepared for a voluntary 
return to their national destiny, when the days of evil were fulfilled. 

Gradually the leavening power of Milton's Vision was felt, as the 
nation cast about in the depths for relief from depression. Gradually the 
Vision of Milton glowed more brightly, as the Miltonic Sun rose in the 
Romantic heavens, and warmed the nation into a uewne.ss of life. This is 
not claiming too much ; for the Romantic movement may almost be de- 
fined as a returning of the nation to the Vision of Milton, with the aspi- 
rations that are consequent and correlated to his exalted conceptions. 

The consciousness of national loss in the defeat of Puritanism was 
kept constantly alive in the body of the nation. The cause itself was 
lost, biit the leavening power of its eternal principles required only 
sufficient time to re-assert itself permanently in national life. Milton 
had dreamed of an ideal Republic, founded upon, and crowned 
by, the principles that make for universal liberty. Gradually the English 
people came to feel the significance of this Vision as an outlet for bound- 
less aspiration. The dead nation aroused itself to try the yet untried 
ideals of national destiny. The leaders sought assurance in similar 
dreams of the past. They revived Plato, Plutarch, and More's Utopia. 
Milton was the logical antecedent, if not an immediate inspiration, of 
this reworking of the dreams of the past. 

In the State, Milton's influence tended ever toward radicalism. 
More and more men dreamed of a future Golden Age of Democracy, and 
set themselves against kings. Here one may feel the influence of Milton's 
arguments for liberty, which helped to kindle the fires of the French 
Revolution. But his influence upon the Church is only less obvious be- 



335J THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OF MILTON. 1765-1801 243 

cause more spiritual. Men dreamed also of a Golden Age in religion, as 
a result, it seems, in part at least, of his inspiration who had so vividly 
connected Heaven and Earth into one vast realm of the free spirit of 
man. This idea was sought by some through a deepening of spiritual 
life, and Methodism was born. Others saw its realization in the widening 
of church activities into world-evangelism, and the great Missionary 
organizations began to occupy foreign fields. Others still believed this 
ideal attainable by Divine Power, and connected Paradise Regained 
with the Millenial reign of Christ, when evil should be abolished from 
the earth. A feeling that Milton, humanly speaking, was an influence 
in all these forward movements pervaded the life and literature of the 
Eighteenth Century. 

The scope of Milton's Romantic conception of universal order com- 
prehended all the relations and experiences of life, temporal and eternal. 
The very grandeur of his conception fired the Romantic imagination. 
Here is where the substance of Milton 's Prose Writings merges with that 
of his Epics into one great composite influence of immeasurable strength, 
and incapable of being resolved into parts that are referable to one 
source of influence apart from the other. In one vast sweep of imagina- 
tion, Milton's Vision covered Man's relations to Man in State and 
Church, and Man's relation to God in the worlds temporal and eternal. 
The very bigness of his conceptions counted for power. It matters little, 
in this connection, what man may say about the adequacy of Milton's 
views. Upon eighteenth century life his views fell with the weight of 
divine sanction, and moved with only a little less authority and inspi- 
ration. 

Man's relations to Man Milton worked out in the laboratory of civil 
and ecclesiastical strife. These relations appeared first in his contro- 
versial Prose Works. His system worked itself upward into perfection. 
Doubtless it was this upward movement of his own mind that led him 
finally to decide upon Paradise Lost as the subject of his great master- 
piece. At first he thought to treat the Romantic legend of Arthur, 
probably intending to expand its shadowy outlines into a portrayal of all 
that was permanent in the traditions of the English people. But he 
soon saw that England was not different from other nations. What 
was the Truth for her was the Truth for all nations and for aU times. 
His subject then was Mankind, and his scope was Eternity. While he 
directed the affairs of a great nation torn with internal strife, and while 
he defined the rights of Church and State, he worked out the crowning 
principle of Moral Order. His Vision called for a treatment of Man, 
and that in his eternal relations. At first Milton thought to treat the 
problem of Evil as a tragedy. But perceiving soon the limitations of 
that mode of expression, he rose to the boundless possibilities of an Epic, 



244 THE MILTON TRADITION [336 

aiid ill that mode he taxed the powers of language to body forth what he 
had seen and felt. 

Moral order, as conceived by Milton, was conditioned upon the 
reign of righteousness. God was over all, the Source of all good, and 
must be obeyed. Departure from this basic principle always brings dis- 
order and punishment. Milton treated his universe as geo-ceutric, for the 
purpose of exalting the dignity of Man. Milton laid out before Man 
infinite possibilities, qualified always by a premium upon merit. Morality 
implies deliberate choice of the right. Moral order obtains when men 
and angels serve God ; and when all the machinery and influences of 
society support the free play of obedience in the individual. Order is 
the universal reign of righteousness, the working out of implicit con- 
formity to Law. Whatever hinders this free conformity is a disturbing 
element that should be abolished. Thus Milton enthroned individual 
interest as the factor that should determine the function of Church 
and State. 

This idea of obedience and conformity to law would seem at first to 
be much in opposition to tlie spirit of Romanticism. But it is not. 
With Milton the springs of life and conduct are all subjective. Men 
conform to law because they love righteousness. Thus Milton not only 
exalts the inherent dignity of Man, but also enthrones tlie thoroughly 
Komantic principles of inner liberty, which has, in his thought, its highest 
compliment in being identified with the love of truth and right. 

In Milton's thought, sin means bondage. Freedom and happiness 
arise from following the things that make for righteousness. The Reason 
is to perceive the right, the heart to love it, and the will to choose it. 
Where these operate with perfect freedom and certainty, there is perfect 
moral order. Besides its fatal consequences, sin is for the individual 
a disturbing force that operates against his own freedom. Man must be 
redeemed to that inner fruitful love of the right. For complete redemp- 
tion, two worlds are necessary, and both under the same principle of 
order. Behind the veil, the Spiritual World of Light is fostering this 
subjective control ; and the World of Darkness is trying to bring its 
overthrow. Thus the messenger of Heaven instructs Adam, and Satan 
comes to tempt Eve. Those unseen powers came into personal conflict 
in the Temptation, which yielded an assurance of complete triumph to 
those who would follow the love of righteousness. 

Church and State were to Milton's mind only temporal aspects of an 
eternal order. Civil and ecclesiastical liberty were the conditions of 
righteousness, and, therefore, the natural right of every man. Men and 
nations must be self-controlled by this inner principle of liberty. The 
wholfi social, political, and religious organization of life must heli), and 
in no case hinder, this true freedom of men to see, to love, and to do the 



337 j THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 245 

right. Thus only may men and nations be self-controlled from exalted 
ideals. These conditions Milton believed possible only under a republican 
form of government, whether in Church or State. This form was alone 
felt to be consistent with free thought, and free expression in word and 
deed. For him republicanism seemed essential to the liberty of 
righteousness. 

Milton seems to have felt that it was the right of the best to bear the 
rule. Like Carlyle, Milton objected not to the hierarchies that were 
founded upon worth and righteousness. Hierarchies based upon any 
other principle were inconsistent with true liberty. Bad kings and bad 
priests were alike to be dispatched. Milton felt that the administration 
in both Church and State in his day was intolerable. He therefore justi- 
fied regicide, as a measure of righteousness; and he withdrew from the 
Church for the same reason. He scorned the Church of Rome, and re- 
jected that of England. He tarried in Presbyterianism only long enough 
to learn that "New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large." Naturally 
his sympathies drifted toward the Quakers, who emphasize the inner 
impulse of the Spirit. But in none of them did his free spirit find a 
resting place. All were inadequate for his lofty ideal, which was rather 
above the militant Church, than opposed to it. 

Another powerful line of influence from Milton's great conception 
was that upon religious Mysticism. The basic principle of his entire con- 
ception was that immediate, mystical relation of the spirit of man to the 
unseen powers that makes for the triumph of right. With him this union 
was vivid and powerful. He felt, and made others feel, that just behind 
the veil of the flesh the heavenly forces were in full alliance with the 
man who was striving for the right for himself and others. Milton verily 
believed that he spoke the truth of God, when he said, in Coinus (1634) : 

Mortals, that would follow me, 
Love Virtue, she alone is free; 
She can teach you how to climb 
Higher than the spheary chime: 
Or, if Virtue feeble were, 
Heaven itself would stoop to her. 

Thus early, one may see the broad platform of Milton 's idealized uni- 
verse rising into the full breadth of human experience. Thus early, 
one may also foresee the meaning of those symbolical visits of the Angels 
to Eden, and of those divine instructions given to Adam before and after 
the Fall."^ 

^^Perhaps it was from Milton that Rousseau had the moral draughts which 
intoxicated him with virtue. This is rendered more probable from the emphasis 
which both authors laid upon the moral ends of education. 



246 THE MILTON TRADITION [338 

In this mystical world of Milton, those Romanticists who sought 
escape from the depressions of the real world found a satisfying refuge. 
But this vastly conceived world was not merely a dream of Fairyland. 
Milton believed a free commonwealth to be the truth of life, and there- 
fore possible to men. Moreover, men believed that the great poet, in his 
own soul, had actuallj' attained that ideal freedom, — a conviction that 
is well expressed in the following paragraph : 

"Sublime ideality still prevailed in Milton, now, however, aged and rudely 
surprised by the Restoration in his dream of an austere republicanism. (Mean- 
while he raised the) triple sumptuous structure on which his glory as the first of 
heroic modern poets rests forever. He completed the vast composition which places 
him on a level with Dante and Homer, which links him with the Bible and ranks 
him with the great Jewish prophets. He remained the stubborn politician and 
sublime poet who was capable, even under the check of Puritanism, to feel and 
express so great a love of beauty. He is the admirable exception which proves 
the rule that the human soul can remain free despite all preconceived systems or 
the crushing force of circumstances.""' 

Milton 's educational theory was only a corollary of his great concep- 
tion of the moral world. Milton made morality the chief end of educa- 
tion. In Milton both instruction and training must foster the inner prin- 
ciple of liberty. He considered knowledge merely for the sake of know- 
ing, to be a vain thing. Knowledge is valuable to him only for its effects 
upon conduct. By this conviction, he austerely directed his own develop- 
ment. By it he attempted to direct the education of others. By it he 
determined the quality and limitations of knowledge for the Race, as 
imparted by the Angel to Adam in Paradise.'" It is not merely, "Be 
good in order to be happy. " That is an invariable result. Milton's real 
idea of education is. Learn and labor in the direction of righteousness; 
for therein lie the largest possibilities for men and for nations. The 
Tractate was often printed, much read, and frequently cited as the best 
authority. The moral end of education became emphatic. Milton was 
regarded the champion of public education, who had prescribed the 
remedy most needed for the social and national evils of the times."' 

"^Frederic Loliee. A Short History of Comparative Literature. Translated 
by M. Douglas Power. Putnam, N. Y. Chap, xv, p. 190. 

"'Cf. Paradise Lost on the subject of Obedience. The universal law of lib- 
erty, vi, 172-188; Happiness in Heaven, vi, 723-741; Happiness on earth, vi, 893- 
912; End of life, vii, 76-80; Limitation of knowledge to moral ends, vii, 111-130, 
viii, 167-178; Power to make earth and Heaven one, vii, 152-161. It will be per- 
ceived that the sum of the highest life is the moral issue thereof, which deter- 
mines everything else in life. 

s^^ppendix H. 



339] THE ROMANTIC APPLICATION OP MILTON, 1765-1801 247 

Milton 's poetical platform was also a corollary of his vast conception 
of Man in his relations to universal order. Poetry was thought to spring 
from the mystical relations of the spirit; for poetry is merely the voice 
of God in man. His platform was fully carried out in his own divine 
Epic. As thus brought, with the double strength of theory and practice, 
to bear upon Romantic poets, its influence can scarcely be overesti- 
mated.''^ 

Milton believed that true poetry was the product of the creative 
imagination operating under the direction or impulse of divine inspira- 
tion. The greatest lyrical poetry was the voice of the Hebrew Prophets. 
"The abilities (for poetry), wheresoever they be found, are the inspired 
gift of God rarely bestowed, but yet to some (though most abused) in 
every nation." Great poetry is not attained "but by devout prayer to 
that eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge." 
The end of poetry, according to Milton, is preeminently to teach. It is 
the voice of God, and must not be prostituted to base purposes. Hence 
Milton condemned the immoral consequences of the later Elizabethan 
dramas, attempted to raise "Satyr" above the "blinde Tap house," and 
to restore Tragedy to its exalted function. 

The bearer of this divine message must be a good man, skilled in 
language and imitation. He must be led and fed by the same Divine 
Spirit. ' ' He who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well here- 
after in laudable things, ought him selfe to bee a true Poem." Neither 
the message of Heaven nor the messenger must wear the grievous yoke 
of Pagan devices. The wings of the Spirit may not be clipped. The 
poetic soul, kindled from the altar-fires of Jehovah, must not wear the 
shackles of tinkling rhymes. Such a soul must be like a star, and dwell 
apart. The poet must be one with 

38Milton'.s critical views may most readily be found in the Critical Essays in 
the lyth. Century, edited by J. E. Spingarn, to which work reference is made. 

Reason for Church Government (1641), I, 197 flf. The Tractate of Education 
(1644), I, 206. Apology for Sincctymnuus (1642), I, 205. Preface to Samson Ago- 
nistes (1671), I, 207-9. (Also, W. P. Ker, Essays of J. Dryden, I, xxviii. A. W. 
Verity, edition of Samson, pp. 1-2. I. Bywater, Milton and the Aristotelian Defi- 
nition of Tragedy. Jour, of Philo., 1900, 27:267-273. Spingarn, Hist of Lit. Crit. 
in the Renaissance, pp. 79-80.) 

See Hist. Lit. Crit. in Ren., p. 54. Apology for Smectymnuus, I, 202. The 
Verse (1668), prefixed to Paradise Lost. 

Edw. Phillips, Preface to the Theatrum Poetarum (1675). Spingarn, II, 259 ff. 
Cf. also Spingarn, I, xxii-xxiii. Edw. Dowden, England's Debt to Milton, empha- 
sizes the salutary influences of Milton's exalted idealism, which Matthew Arnold 
declares to be the thing that will save England from things mean and vulgar. (Essay 
on Milton.) Littell's Living Age, 1899, 223 :845-847. 



248 THK MILTON TRADITION [3-10 

A voice whose sound (is) like the sea; 
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free; (Trib. 199). 

and yet, one wlio is willing to undertake the humblest tasks of life. 

Such was the conception of Milton himself that kindled the springs 
of poetry in a Wordsworth. This conception of the prophetic consecra- 
tion of the creative imagination, received from Milton, was transfused by 
Edward Phillips and others into the standard conceptions of poetry. 
The conviction of a fundamental religious inspiration in poetry was 
caught up by Dennis and emphasized as the condition of all great works 
in poetic art. The moral purpose in poetry was quickened, and gave a 
tone of ' ' high seriousness ' ' to literature in general, which may be reflected 
in the "literary gospels" of the Nineteenth Century. The pi'emium 
placed upon the creative imagination breathed the breath of poetic life 
and fire into the ode-writers who rose at the middle of the Eighteenth 
Century. In a word, it was this poetic platform of Milton, made concrete 
and irresistible in Paradise Lost, that read itself into the secret heart 
of the English people, and, more than anything else, stimulated the revolt 
in literature, and transformed the national taste so much that the con- 
ventional, the commonplace, and the couplet, were all alike intolerable. 



CONCLUSION 

The foregoing survey has sought, above everything else, fidelity to 
facts aud to the proportions of interest in the several parts of Milton's 
voluminous works. The bearing of this survey upon the question of 
Milton's influence, as stated in Chapter I above, would seem to indicate 
that the common view has hardly taken into account all of the facts. 

In Chapter II it has appeared that, during the period under discus- 
sion, the part of Milton's works in which the English people were most 
deeply interested \yas Paradise Lost. At least, that poem was published 
and sold far more than anything else which Milton ever wrote. The 
Prose Works were published in several editions, and about one-half of 
these were prior to any extensive recognition of the Minor Poems. The 
Minor Poems themselves were published in four separate editions, with 
twenty-eight, one hundred and twelve, and six years, between them. Some 
of the poems began, as adaptations, to be published separately about the 
fourth decade of the Eighteenth Century. Otherwise, the Minor Poems 
were appended, in a subordinate manner, to the Epics, in order to com- 
plete the Poetical Works of Milton. Throughout the period the great 
commercial interest in Milton centered in Paradise Lost, as perhaps the 
"best seller" of the market. 

The same central interest appears in Chapter III, where the voice 
of the poets is lieard. With few exceptions, and those traceable to inci- 
dental circumstances, the poets of this period thought and wrote of 
Milton in terms of Paradise Lost. It was that poem which expressed 
what Milton meant to them. To this same conception the biographers 
also came, through a gradual transition of emphasis, as indicated in 
Chapter IV. Some of the earlier biographers were sympathetic, most 
of them were not, and all of them treated Milton as a politician, who 
had some fame as a poet because of his Paradise Lost. As a politician, 
Milton was not, for a long while, generally popular, and so appeared in 
most accounts of his life. But the emphasis of his career gradually 
shifted from the politician to the poet, under the rising glory of this 
great author, which appears, in Chapter V, to have been due almost 
exclusively to the influence of Paradise Lost. 

The influence of this poem gradually exalted Milton to the pinnacle 
of the temple of fame, convinced the nation of Milton's superior genius, 
249 



250 THE MILTON TRADITION [342 

procured a hearing for his Prose Writings, and brought the Minor 
Poems into public notice. Once introduced, as stated in Chapter VI, 
these Minor Poems made a certain fanciful appeal to the Milton-loving 
mid-century versifiers, and were often imitated in form, though almost 
never approached in spirit. They were used somewhat seriously at times 
as a model or form of expression for the outlet of certain poetic feelings 
generated in the earlier stages of Romanticism. But these poems were 
rarely more than a sort of poetic play-thing, a holiday dress for the 
Muse, a strong man's diversion. 

The serious concern of the mid-century England was to understand 
the sublime message of Milton, built up through his Prose, and crowned 
in his exalted Epics. Therein, as pointed out in Chapter VII, the great 
voice of Milton was heard, in that exalted, unified, comprehensive mes- 
sage of liberty, which permeated and transformed the life of England, 
sending its manifold currents out through manj' channels of the Roman- 
tic Movement. 



APPENDIX A MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 

This History of Britain was published several times during the 
Eighteenth Century (p. 45 above). The expurgated part on the Long 
Parliament, &c. was published in 1681, and restored to the History in 
1738. (Newton, Lf. of Milton, Dublin, 1773, I, xxxvii.) Prior dwelt at 
some length, in a Preface (1706), on Milton's interest in the early tra- 
ditions of Brute, and built an Ode . ... To the Queen on this "poet- 
ical authority." (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 10:178.) In 1718 {Complete 
Art of Poetry, 249), Gildon said: 

"Our old Saxon History, and our Heptarchy might afford subjects of the same 
kind (as the classical mythology)." Then he added, "Milton tells us, that he writ 
it for the use of poets." 

Bishop White Kennet began his Compleat History of England 
(1706, reprinted 1719, 3 vol. fol.) with Milton's History of Britain. 
Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), the antiquarian, referring to this History, 
Nov. 16, 1731, said, "John Milton I believe is more read (than John 
Clapham, the historical writer) ; and yet even Milton was infinitely 
better at poetry than history." {Reliquiae Hearnianae, III, 77.) In 
1737, The British Librarian (London, 1737, p. 2) quoted Milton as 
authority on Gildas. When David Hume (1711-1776) began to deal 
with this early period, in his History of England (1756), he was glad 
enough to shelter himself in the national esteem for Milton's great 
abilities : 

"The history of that period," said Hume, "abounds in names, but is extremely 
barren of events ; or the events are related so much without circumstances and 
causes, that the most profound or most elegant writer must despair of rendering 
them either instructive or entertaining to the reader. Even the great learning and 
vigorous imagination of Milton sunk under the weight ; and this author scruples 
not to declare, that the skirmishes of kites or crows as much merited a particular 
narrative, as the confused transactions and battles of the Saxon Heptarchy." 
(Hume, Ed. 1850. vol. I, p. 22). 

Probably this History of Britain exercised .some influence upon the 
l^roblems of English liberty in the Eighteenth Century. Through the 
shadowy details of that early period of British history, Milton por- 
trayed the working out of that inseparable union between virtue and 
liberty, which applies alike to individuals and to nations. This emphasis 
of Milton has been very well pointed out by Mr. C. H. Firth, in his article 
on Milton as an Historian, published in the Proceedings of the British 
Academy, 1907-8. 

251 



252 THE MILTON TRADITION [344 

APPENDIX B MILTON'S BLINDNESS 

Milton's Blindness entered three times into his own poetry. The 
first time was in the Sonnets On His Blindness (1655) and To Cyriack 
Skinner (1656). Here one hears the voice of resignation, while making 
what Professor W. P. Trent has called the most sjjlendid example of 
"unspectacular patriotic sacrifice." {Milton After 300 Years, 1910, p. 
132.) The second reference by Milton to his Blindness was in Paradise 
Lost, iii, 1-55, where one may perceive the enjoyment of a conscious 
recompense for his earlier sacrifice, in that inner illumination which 
opened to the poet the brighter visions of the spirit world. The last 
reference mirrored the man Milton under the weight of his affliction, 
' ' blind among enemies ! ' " This portrayal of his own woes was voiced 
in the outcries of Samson, who toiled at the mill, and spent his 

Life in captivity 
Among inhuman foes. 

Few touches are to be found more pathetic than that of the old 
blind hero at the mill mistaking the entering Chorus for his enemies. 

But who are these? for with joint pace I hear 
The tread of many feet steering this way ; 
Perhaps my enemies, who come to stare 
At my affliction, and perhaps to insult — 
Their daily practice to afflict me more. 

Then through the Chorus, quietly drawn near, the Poet commented 
upon his own sad fate : 

O mirror of our fickle state, 

Since man on earth, unparalleled, 

The rarer thy example stands, 

But how much from the top of wondrous glory, 

Strongest of mortal men, 

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fallen. 

The outcries of blind Samson were only a larger development of the 
"evil days" and "evil tongues" of Paradise Lost, vii, 26, which became 
a sort of key-note to Milton's later life, during the Eighteenth Century. 

The fact of Milton's Blindness, and these poetic expressions of that 
fact, occupied an important place in later tliought of the poet. He was 
sometimes criticised for having stopped to introduce these personal 
matters into his Epic (W. J. Mickle, Tr. of the Lusiad, Chalmers, Eng. 
Poets, vol. 21, p. 634, n. 11) ; but Addison thought the digression very 
beautiful (Spec, No. 297). It was a common thing to find the entire 



345] APPENDIX 253 

passage from P. L., Ill, in the earlier Lives of Milton, and Bysshe (Art 
of Poetry, 1702) quoted the passage in full. 

Milton's Blindness played heavily upon poetic fancy during the 
Eighteenth Century. This fact may be seen by reference to the Poetical 
Tributes, Numbers" 40, 77, 78, 110, 182, 187, 205, 208, 209. A somewhat 
extremely fanciful explanation of Milton's Blindness appeared in 
Gray's Progress of Poesy (1754) : 

Nor second he, that rode subhme 

Upon the seraph-wings of extasy, 

The secrets of the abyss to spy. 

He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time: 

The living throne, the saphire-blaze, 

Where .'\ngels tremble, while they gaze. 

He saw ; but blasted with excess of light, 

Clos'd his eyes in endless night. 

These lines were regarded as weak by the Monthly Review (14: 
434-41), and as "a puerile conceit, unworthy of the author, . . . void 
of truth and propriety," by the Critical Review (4:167-70). Walpole 
thought that this description, "though perhaps not strictly defensible, 
is very majestic." {To Lord Lyttelton, Aug. 25, 1757. Toynbee, iv, 
85.) Mason pronounced these lines within "the bounds of poetic credi- 
bility," but repulsive because "Milton himself has told us, in a strain 
of heart-felt exaltation (Sonnet to Skinner), that he lost his eye-sight." 
{Poems of Gray, ed. 1778, I, p. 114.) 

Walter Pater, in The Renaissance, Studies in Art and Poetry (1910, 
p. 87), says that the Platonists derived mysticism "from the act of 
shutting the eyes, that one may see the more inwardly." Such certainlj' 
was thought in the Eighteenth Century to have been the effect of Milton's 
Blindness: he was enabled thereby to see the invisible things of the 
spiritual world. Milton himself had suggested something of tliis nature 
in his prayer {P. L., Ill, 51-55) : 

So much the rather thou. Celestial Light, 

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers 

Irradiate ; there plant eyes ; all mists from thence 

Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell 

Of things invisible to mortal sight. 

It was strongly believed that this prayer was literally fulfilled. 
The common conviction was expressed by Charles Gildon in his Vindi- 
cation of Mr. Milton's Paradise Lost (1694), {Misc. Letters and Essays, 
1694, 41-44) : 

"Tho' the composing such a compleat poem on such, a no less obscure, than 
weighty subject, was a Task to be performed by Mr. Milton only, yet 'tis not out 



254 THE MILTON TRADITION [346 

of doubt, whether himself had ever been able so to Sing the Uiirevealed Heavenly 
Mysteries, had he not been altogether deprived of his Outward sight, and thereby 
made capable of such continued Strenuous, Inward Speculations: as he who has 
the use of his Bodily Eyes, cannot possibly become possest with. This however must 
be Granted, as indubitably true; the bountiful Powers above, did more than make 
him amends for their taking away his Sight, by so Illumining his Mind, as to 
enable him most compleatly to sing of Matchless Beings, Matchless Things, before 
unknown to, and even unthought of by the whole Race of Men ; thus rewarding 
him for a Temporary Loss, with an Eternal Fame, of which Envy it self shall not 
be able to deprive this best of Poems, or its most Judicious Author." 

So also Isaac Watts said in verse (To Mitio, My Friend. Pt. II, 
The Bright Vision. Horae Lyricae, Bk. ii. Chalmers, E. Pts., 13 :67- 
70): 

'Twas Raphael taught 
The patriarch of our progeny th' affairs 
Of Heaven: (so Milton sings, enlightened bard! 
Nor miss'd his eyes, when in sublimest strain 
The Angel's great narration he repeats). 

And John Hughes continued the same conception, in To The Memory 
of Milton, quoted as Tribute No. 40. This idea of a compensative inner 
illumination continued even into the Nineteenth Century and appeared 
as the basis of a just observation of Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), who 
spoke in his Specimens (1819, I, 238-9) of Milton's dependence upon 
supernatural inspiration, when his eyes were shut on the face of nature, 

and " in a calm air of strength beginning a mighty performance 

without the appearance of an effort." 

Milton's Blindness passage was even imitated. Thomas Blacklock 
(1721-1791) was blind from the age of six. By 1754, he wrote his 
Soliloquy, in blank verse, which is little more than a prolonged echo of 
Milton on the subject of Blindness. James Spence, who wrote An 
Account of the Life of Blacklock (1754, pub. 1756), dwelt at some length 
upon the similarity between him and Milton in this respect. This simi- 
larity, as well as Blacklock 's indebtedness to Milton, was recognized in 
Verses Written iy a very Near-sighted Gentleman, published in Black- 
lock's Poems, London, 1766, Ivi-Lxii. 

The Rev. Samuel Hoole published Edward; or, the Curate, A Poem 
in Three Cantos, in 1787. Of this work, the Monthly Review said (78: 
242-243). 

"After the manner of Milton, in the third book of his Paradise Lost^ he has 
introduced his subject with an affecting reference to his own misfortune, o defect 
of sight, to console himself, under which he appears to have undertaken this 
poetical detail of Edward's woes." 



347] APPENDIX 255 

Likewise also Milton entered into the literature of Blindness itself. 
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) published An Essay on Blindness (1750?), 
with anecdotes on Milton. Select Essays from the Encyclopedy had an 
article (xii) on Blindness, by M. D'Alembert, which referred to noted 
persons who were blind. (Cr. Rev., 3.3:49-54.) Robert Wood, Esq., in 
his Essay on the Original Genius and Writings of Homer (1775), ran 
a parallel between Homer and Milton, and felt a connection between 
their Blindness and their sublimity. (Cr. Rev., Sept., 1775, 40:169- 
178.) The Monthly Review quoted Thomas Brown's Observations on 
the Zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin (1798), as using Milton's descriptive 
excellences, tliough blind, to expose the absurdity in Darwin's theory 
that "when an organ (of sense) is destroyed, the ideas of that organ 
necessarily perish." "Can we then suppose," said Brown, "that Milton 
described the beauties of his ideal paradise, without any conception of 
what he described!" (Mo. Rev., June, 1799, 110(29) :151-164). 

APPENDIX C MRS. MACAULAY ON MILTON 

About the end of the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century, the 
question of literary property, or copyright, was warmly discussed, the 
right having been practically annulled by "the fatal decision against it 
in the house of lords." Literary circles were in great confusion. Cath- 
erine Macaulay, who was then sick and above a hundred miles from the 
capital, gathered her remnants of strength for A Modest Plea for the 
Property of Copy Right (1774). She introduced the names of Bacon, 
Newton, Milton, and Lock, "as examples to prove that the first-rate 
geniuses have laboured in the literary way, on the single motive of de- 
lighting and instructing mankind." But the rewards of these authors 
were a perpetual disgrace upon the nation. The use that she made of 
Milton in this connection is a splendid summary of his influence upon 
certain aspects of national life and thought at that time. In her man- 
ner of direct narration, she said : 

"Newton was gratified with a place and pension ; and Milton, for his spirited 
and noble defence of the people of England, had the honour of receiving thanks, 
accompanied with a present, from the most patriotic government that ever blessed 
the hopes and military exertions of a brave people. When indeed the times altered, 
and the matchless Author of Paradise Lost had fallen on evil days; when his 
prospects in regard to lucrative advantage was vanished ; when he had lost his eyes 
in the attempt of fixing the ideas of good government and true virtue in the minds 
of a wavering people; when his fortunes were entirely ruined in the crush of his 
party; this excellent, this heroic, this god-like man, instead of flying, like Timon 
of Athens, from the haunts of the human species, amused his distressed imagination 
with forming, for the delight and the instruction of mankind, a poem, whose 



256 THE MILTON TRADITION [348 

merit is of such magnitude, that it is impossible for a genius inferior to liis own 
to do it justice in the description. 

"Such an example of love and charity, it is to be owned, does great honour to 
Milton's religious and moral principles, and to human ijature; but yet I think it is an 
example, which may with much more propriety be brought on the other side of the 
question. Can any man, capable of feeling and tasting the compositions of Milton, 
reflect without sorrow and anguish of heart, that a society of rational beings should 
be so void of every grateful sentiment, so dead to every moral instinct, as to suffer 
the posterity of this illustrious citizen, to be reduced to a state of poverty, which 
necessitated them, for the support of a miserable existence, to solicit a share in 
the distribution of public alms. 

"In Milton's days, had literary property stood on the same footing it w-as sup- 
posed to stand on before the fatal decision against it in the house of lords, a 
bookseller notwithstanding this worthy man was under the frowns of a court ; 
notwithstanding the virtue of his conduct had subjected him to a load of unpopu- 
larity, from the change of sentiment in bis giddy countrymen ; notwithstanding, I 
say, these difficulties, a bookseller, on speculative grounds, might possibly have 
given him such a sum for that incomparable poem, as would in some measure have 
helped to support him comfortably under the cloud of his fortune, and enabled him 
to leave such a decent provision for his posterity, as to have prevented, to the 
indelible disgrace of this country, the necessity of their asking alms." 

A foot-note says, "This will not appear an e.xtravagant supposition, when we 
consider the prices which the present bishop of Bristol got from the booksellers, for 
writing a few notes on this incomparable poem." 

Crif. Review, March, 1774. 37:214-221. 

APPENDIX D ADDISON'S CRITIQUE UPON THE PARADISE 
LOST, IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

The popularity of Addison's Critique throughout the Eighteenth 
Century was very great. Besides the wide circulation of the original 
Spectator Papers, this Critique seems to have been reprinted in the 
Spectator in 1712 8vo., 1729 12mo., 1744 12mo., 1765 8vo., 1799 12mo., 
1796 (Harrison's Brit. Classicks, 4-5) 8vo., and 1746 (Tr. into French) 
12mo. The Works of Addison were published in 1721 4 vols. 4to., 1722 
4 vols. 12mo., 1741 ?, 1761 4 vols. 4to., 1777 3 vols. 12mo. 

The Critique was printed with Paradise Lost in the following 
editions : 

24 i-ig 46 1750 80 1770 Q9 1778 123 1795-6 
45 1/49 71 1763 95 1776 107 1790 T25 1795 

and, according to the British Museum. Catalogue, in tlie following: 

25 1720 50 1751 73 1765 130 1801 
32 1731 57 1754 92 1775 



349] .\ppENDix 257 

It was printed in a separate volume in 1719, and as a part of the 
Familiar Explanation of Milton, 12mo, 1762. It was translated into 
German, by J. J. Bodmer, 1740, 8vo. It was translated into French, and 
printed with Paradise Perdu, in 1729, 1754, 1792, and with Milton's 
Works, in 1753. It was translated into Italian, by Rolli, in 1742, and 
printed again in 1794 and 1801. 

If tlie above figures be correct, the Critique passed through the 
English press thirty-two times by 1801, and appeared in translation 
eight times. While Addison seemed himself to say, in his introduction 
to these Papers, that he did not need to write Milton into popularity, 
yet the Papers were timely, and did greatly stimulate the interest in 
Paradise Lost. 

The first formal representation of this stimulated interest occurred 
while the Papers were still coming from the press. Evistace Burgell 
{Spec., April 22, 1712) was doubtless writing with his eye on the object, 
when he represented Will Honeycomb with a pocket edition of Paradise 
Lost, a new Tonson Quarto, no doubt, which Sir Roger wished to bor- 
row, with the leaf turned down at a select passage recently brought to 
his attention, and which he desired to read that night before going to 
bed. Addison himself also spoke, in the Spectator (May 3, 1712), of 
the generous way in which the public had received his Papers on Milton. 

The interest continued throughout the century, not without some 
notes of criticism on Addison's methods, though in general he was often 
thought of as the first great champion of Milton's popularity. 

Charles Gildon, in the Laws of Poetry (1721, p. 259), approved, 
in general, the spirit of Addison's work, but censured him for attempting 
to bring "a divine poem" under the rules of heroic poetry. (Cf. also 
The Complete Art of Poetry, 1718, p. 269.) Naturally enough, the 
Apotheosis of Milton (1738), by William Guthrie (1708-1770), gave a 
delightful character of Addison boosting Milton's claims among the 
poetical spirits of the other world {Addisoniana, I, 144-5 and Gent. 
Mag., 8:232, 469, 521, &c.) 

Dr. Johnson recognized Addison, in relation to Milton, as "the illus- 
trious writer who has so long dictated to the commonwealth of learn- 
ing." (Rambler 86, Jan. 12, 1751.) More definitely, however, the 
Doctor seems to have expressed his feelings when he said, in the Life 
of Addison (ed. Hill, II, 147), "By the blandishments of gentleness 
and facility he has made Milton an universal favorite with whom readers 
of every class think it necessary to be pleased." 

A Note to Gibber's Life of James Thomson, which the Monthly 
Review thought worth while to quote (Appendix to vol. 9, p. 486, 1753), 
held that Milton's "works were only found in the libraries of the cu- 
rious, or judicious few, till Addison's Remarks spread a taste for them; 



258 THE MILTON TRADITION [350 

and at length it became even unfashionable not to have read them." 
R. Kedington (d. 1760), in his Dissertation on the Iliad of Homer 
( 1759 ) , afSrmed that ' ' the great Milton lay for a long time most cruelly 

neglectf.'d, till an admired Writer unfolded his beauties." (Mo. 

Rev., Feb., 1760, 22:119.) This same Review (May, 1762, 26:299) 
declared that Addison's Remarks helped materially to prepare the way 
for the appreciation of James Thomson's works a few years later. Lord 
Kames, in his Elements of Criticism (1762), spoke of Milton as "hid 
under the veil of obscurity, till Mr. Addison unfolded his beauties to 
the public eye." (Quoted Mo. Rev., 27:13.) Edward Watkinson, in 
his Essay on Criticism (1763, part iii), likewise referred the reputation 
of Milton to the Critique of Addison. 

The critical value of Addison's Remarks was assailed in the last 
half of the century. Richard Hurd wrote in 1770: "For what con- 
cerns his Criticism on Milton in particular, there was this accidental 
benefit arising from it, that it occasioned an admirable poet to be read, 
and his excellencies to be observed. But for the merit of the work itself, 
if there be anything just in the plan, it was, because Aristotle and 
Bossu had taken the same route before him." {Life and Correspond- 
ence, Memoirs, &c., pp. 107-8, 363-4.) Hurd pronounced Addison's crit- 
icisms "not infrequently altogether frivolous." (Quoted Knox's Essays, 
No. 21. Perry, Eng. Lit. in 18C., 163u.) 

Mrs. Barbauld strongly denied that Addison discovered Milton's 
Paradise Lost. (Crit. Essays on the Tatle.r & Spec. Works, Boston, 1826, 
III, 83-104.) But the Rt.' Hon. George Canning thought that "To the 
Critiques of the Spectator, Shakespeare and, more particularly, Milton 
are endebted for no inconsiderable share of the reputation which they 
now so universally enjoy." {Microcosm No. 11, Feb. 12, 1787. Brit. 
Essayists, 1827, 28:66-72. Gleaner, 1811, No. Ill, 2:100.) 

Nathan Drake, M.D. (1766-1836), however, defended, against some 
modern critics, the wisdom of Addison's Critique as the effective thing 
for its day, and justified that wisdom by the unparalleled results of the 
Critique upon the popularity of Milton, which had continued to in- 
crease to the end of the century. "Perhaps no effort," said Drake, "in 
the annals of criticism has been productive of more salutary and decided 
effects, than the attempt to render popular the Paradise Lost of Mil- 
ton." {On the Critical Abilities and Tastes of Addison. Essays Biog., 
(fee, 1798, vol. 2, pp. 144-167.) Perhaps there was need of this defence 
of Addison at that time. In his Lectures on English Poets, written 
about 1797 but not published until 1807, Percival Stockdale said, "A 
sacrilegious contempt hath been expressed for that elegant critick's 



351 ] APPENDIX 259 

beautiful papers in the Spectator on the Paradise Lost." (Quoted by- 
Perry, p. 163.) 

This persistent interest in the Critique shows that it was regarded 
as perhaps the standard work of the century on Paradise Lost, and 
argues a large influence upon the popular appreciation of that poem. 
One can easily understand how it should come to be regarded that 
Addison first brought Milton into popularity by these Papers, because 
they were a sort of epoch-making production. 

APPENDIX E THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT MILTON'S 
RELIGION 

The exact truth of Milton's religious views was always a more or 
less debated question. His ancestors, and some of his contemporary 
kinsmen were Roman Catholics. But Milton's own family had broken 
with the Faith of Rome long before the Poet's birth. They were Puri- 
tans, and such in general was Milton ; but he was felt to have many 
exceptions to the regular Puritan religious formulas. Milton severed 
his connections with the Church of England, and seems not to have 
been actively connected with any church organization. Later in life, 
he leaned toward the Quakers. These facts, together with many things 
in his writings, laid the religious beliefs of Milton open to many specu- 
lations. 

John Toland, who cared little about orthodoxy either in religion 
or politics, described Milton as a Socinian and a republican. There was 
also a suspicion that Milton was, during his last days, a Roman Catholic. 
Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), the antiquarian, explained this matter 
rather fully. Before quoting him, it will be well to recall that Sir 
Christopher Milton (1615-1693) was himself a Catholic. "Mr. Joyner 
told me," said Hearne, July 4, 1705, "that Mr. Selden writ the Life of 
Fryer Bacon, but he cannot tell where 'tis now. At the same time, he 
gave large encomiums of Mr. Milton, but denies that he died a Papist." 
On Sept. 16, 1706, Hearne wrote half a page on this subject, from which 
it seems that Joyner stoutly denied, while Hearne seemed to credit the 
testimony of Sir Christopher Milton, confirmed by a sermon preached 
by Dr. Binks at assize at Warwick. Sir Christopher had claimed that 
John Milton was a Papist for the last ten years before his death. 
Hearne seems, however, to have thought well of the Poet Milton, and 
spoke of him as "the famous John Milton." {Reliquiae Hearnianae, 
Vol. I, pp. 1-2, 115, 291.) 

Biographers, as a rule, have little to say about Milton's religion. 
Richardson dismissed the charge of Arianism, with confidence in the 
general approval of "so many Pious and Learned Divines having ap- 
proved and encouraged the Book." {Life, xlix.) 



260 THE MILTON TRADITION [352 

A brief, but spirited, controversy on the charge of Arianism was 
waged through the Gentleman's Magazine in 1738. The attack was 
made by "Theophilus," who claimed to regard Milton very highly as a 
poet, but thought not "so well of his religion." (8:124-125). The 
charge was that of Arianism, "which . . . tends to corrupt our Notions 
of the most sacred Things, and to sensualize our ideas of God, of Heaven, 
and another world, by Glosses often profane and sometimes ridicu- 
lous." Two replies to this charge appeared immediately. One of them 
claimed for Milton regular orthodox views in Paradise Lost. (8:201-2). 
Tile other writer, who had newly and carefully perused Addison's 
Critique, vindicated Milton against the charge of a sensual Heaven, &c. 
(8:288-90). 

The next writer, Urbanus Sylvan, who was quoted from the Daily 
Gazette (Aug. 7), challenged Theophilus "to produce some Passages 
from Paradise Lost, to prove his assertion that Milton had adopted the 
Arian Principle into that Poem : if it is not done in three months, The- 
ophilus must pass as some conceited Popish Tool, whose aim was to 
deter well-meaning People from reading a Poem wherein the Idolatry 
and Superstition of the Heathens and Papists are exposed with all pos- 
sible strength and Beauty." (8:417). Five months later, Theophilus 
made a feeble reply, which seems to have been his last, claiming that 
his charge had not been answered. One thing prominent in this argu- 
ment was the direct appeal which was made to Addison's Critique as 
the ultimate authority on Paradise Lost. (9:5-6). 

Dr. Johnson, who failed not to seize upon any means of rendering 
Milton's name odious, played heavily upon the religious nerve of his 
contemporaries. But Milton was not so easily dethroned as the Doctor 
had imagined. The venerable biographer was immediately informed 
that Milton's religion was sufficiently revealed in Paradise Lost, or 
words to that effect ("W. & D.," Gent. Mag., March, 1779, 49:36-37) ; 
and later he was informed that Milton's religion needed no vindication 
(Boerhadem, Gent. Mag., Oct., 1779, 49:492-3). 

But Milton's "Arianism," which remained an unsettled point, was 
a subject for table talk, and even for serious discussion, as late as 1827. 
(Thos. Moore, Diary, V, 143, "Jan. 11, 1827".) Even more recently, 
Joseph W. Morris published John Milton: a Vindication, especially 
from the charge of Arianism. London (1862), 8vo. There is still specu- 
lation as to what Milton really did believe in respect to religious 
matters. 

On William Blake's view of the doctrinal errors in Paradise Lost, 
that Milton was an Atheist, and "that carnal pleasures arose from the 
fall," one may consult H. C. Robinson's Diary, vol. 2, under 1825 and 
1826, pages 307-9 and 324. 



353] APPENDIX 261 

APPENDIX P NOTES ON MILTON'S SOURCES 

The object here is to add a few notes, mainly bibliographical, to 
Chapter vi, at Note 90, p. 192. 

Dryden said, in the Preface to The Fables (1700), that "Milton 
was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax. . . . Mil- 
ton has acknowledged to me, that Spenser was his original." Gildon 
emphasized this point, in The Complete Art of Poetry (1718), in the 
Preface of which lie recognized that Spenser had made both Milton and 
Waller poets, in that he was the inspiration that kindled their natural 
geniuses. 

Milton's indebtedness to the Scriptures was, of course, evident 
from the earliest appearance of his Epics. Addison has some remarks 
upon this in connection with the Creation (Spec. 339, Mar. 29, 1712), 
and upon Milton's debt to Ovid for the looking-glass passage (Bohn. ed. 
I, 151-2). The Golden Scales passage was thought, by another writer, 
to come from Homer. {Free-Thinker, 149, Aug. 24, 1719. Drake's 
Gleaner, 1811, 18. I, 133). Later iu the century, Akenside was inter- 
ested in Milton's lively interest in ancient mythological lore. (Notes on 
the Hymn to the Naiads (1746).) (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 14:123-5). 
Milton's obligation to the Greek dramatists was generally recognized. 
E. Potter thought that "Milton and Gray have imitated Aeschylus, but 
with that free spirit of imitation that always accompanies and distin- 
guishes genius. In this spirit, the fire of the Prometheus of Aeschylus 
is transformed into the Satan of Milton." (See Mo. Rev., Oct., 1778, 
59:286-297.) 

Voltaire contended that Paradise Lost owed its origin to a Floren- 
tine Comedy, called Adamo, by Andreino {Essay on Epick Poetry, L., 
1727). In the same year, this view was assailed by the Italian Rolli, 
then in London ; and in 1753, by Giuseppe Baretti, in A Dissertation 
upon the Italian Poetry, &c., who regarded it "ridiculous that such a 
man as Milton could have raked among the rubbish of Andreino so 
bright a jewel as the Paradise Lost" (p. 67). 

Dr. Pearce thought that the source of Paradise Lost was an Italian 
Tragedy, called II Paradiso Perso. Peck thought it borrowed from a 
wild romance. William Lauder reveiwed the question, in the Preface 
to his Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Modern (1750). In 
that Essay, Lauder undertook to show that Milton had stolen the Epic 
from Hugo Grotius, and Masenius. About thirty years later, there was 
considerable interest in Grotius 's De Veritate, &c., which was translated 
as Hugo Grotius on the Truth of Christianity. The Critical Review 
(May, 1783, 55:400-1) mentioned five translations. This work was 
written in Dutch, translated into Latin (1628), and into English (1639), 



262 THE MILTON TRADITION [35-i 

and again (1686). The later Translation by L'Este was "poor stuff" 
(Cr. Rev., Aug., 1776, 42:153); but that by Spencer Madan (1758- 
1836) went through three editions (1782, 1792, 1814). 

The Battle of the Genii, A Fragment, in three Cantos. Taken from 
an Erse MS., was published about 1765, and reviewed as a possible 
source of Milton's Battle of the Angels. (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1765, 19:151.) 
The Notes to the Translation of the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius 
(1772, pub. 1780) were given largely to indicating the similarities be- 
tween this work and Milton's Paradise Lost. (By Francis Fawkes, in 
Anderson, vol. 13, and Chalmers, v. 20.) It was pointed out, that The 
Christiad (1532), by Marcus H. Vida, had an invocation of the Holy 
Spirit. (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1771, 32:443-8.) There was also a flimsy at- 
tempt made by Peregrine Phillips, editor of Crashaw's Poetry, to show 
that Milton, Pope, Gray, Young, &c., were all plagiarists of Richard 
Crashaw. (For reply, see Cr. Rev., AprU, 1785, 59:255-8.) Wm. J. 
Mickle attempted also to find a connection between The Lusiad of 
Camoens (1517-1579) and Paradise Lost, through Fanshaw's Transla- 
tion of the Lusiad in 1653. (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 21:757-9.) G. E. 
Woodberry regards Camoens "the maker of the only truly modern 
epic." {The Inspiration of Poetry, 1910, Macmillan, pp. 58-84.) 

In 1785, Henry Boyd (d. 1832) published A Translation of the 
Inferno of Dante Alighieri, in English Verse, with Historical Notes, 
and the Life of Dante. Both of the London Reviews hastened to point 
out the indebtedness of Milton to Dante (cf. Cr. Rev., June, 1785, 59: 
401-410). The next issue of the Critical Review (July, 1785, 60:54-59), 
treating The Progress of Romance through Times, Countries, and Man- 
ners, in two volumes, has the following comment on the deadness of the 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries to the spirit of romance, whose 
productions in this way were regarded as objects of ridicule. "It was 
in vain to lead the readers to those forgotten fables, by telling them that 
they were once the sources of entertainment to the gay, the witty, and 
even the learned ; that from this fire Milton frequently kindled his torch, 
and scattered light and flame into metaphysical disquisitions, or austere 
complaints; that from this source he frequently threw an additional 
lustre on even his own splendid imagery." 

Henry Brooke (1706-1783) translated Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered 
in 1738, books I and II, in rhyme (Chalmers, Eng. Poets. 17:365-382). 
II Tasso. A Dialogue. The Speakers John Milton, Torquato Tasso. In 
which new light is thrown on their poetical and moral characters, ap- 
peared in 1762; but the Critical Review (14:76) thought the "new light 
certainly concealed under a bushel." John Hoole (1727-1803) trans- 
lated the Jerusalem Delivered, into heroic couplets, in 1763. The work 
was well received. (Cr. Rev., 16:16-24; Mo. Rev. 29:182, 251, 321. 



355] APPENDIX 263 

Chalmers, Eng. Poets. 21:405-16). In 1773, Hoole translated Orlando 
Furioso, which seems to have gone through eight editions by 1819. 
(Chalmers, Eug. Poets, 21:5-18). In 1785, La Vita di Torquato Tasso 
(1544-1595) was published in Rome, and reviewed in London. (Cr. Rev. 
Appendix, 1792. 6:506-12). The large Miltonic interests in all these 
Italian works were quite conspicuous. Hoole 's Notes were devoted to 
much discussion of the relations of Milton to Tasso as a source. 

Late in the century, Win. Hayley added to his Life of Milton 
"Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise Lost." (1794, 1796). Joseph 
Ritson pointed out Hayley 's failure to notice "the Angeleida of Erasmo 
Valvasone, to which, I am apt to suspect, Milton was as much indebted 
as to any thing his biographer lias enumerated." (To Mr. Walker. Let- 
ters, II, 108-112. Feb. 3, 1796). H. W. Tytler, M.D., published 
Pacdotrophia; or, The Art of Nursing and Rearing Children. A Poem in 
three books. Translated from the Latin of Scevole de St. Martha 
(d. 1623). The Dedication to Henry III was compared to Paradise 
Lost, as a possible source; but both probably took lines from Ovid. (Cr. 
Rev., Dec, 1797. n.s. 21:439-443). 

Charles Dunster (1750-1816) published, in 1800, Considerations on 
Milton's Early Reading, and the Prima Stamina of his Paradise Lost; 
together with Extracts from a Poet of the Sixteenth Cent\iry. In a 
Letter to Wm. Falconer, M.D. In this work, the author attempted to 
show Milton's indebtedness to Joshua Sylvester (1563-1618), who had 
translated the Scriptural epic of the Gascon Huguenot, Guillaume de 
Saluste, seigneur du Bartas (1544-1590). This work translated by Syl- 
vester was printed in two English editions during Milton's early days 
(4to., 1613, and fol., 1621) ; and it was supposed to have given Milton 
the idea of a religious epic. This work was given considerable notice in 
contemporary criticism, and it was felt that the influence upon Milton 
from Du Bartas, through Sylvester, was not as direct and forceful as 
Dunster supposed it to be. (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1800. 30 n.s. 2:438-42; Mo. 
Rev., March, 1801. 115(34) :234-39). See also H. J. Todd's Life of 
Milton, which has an Appendix containing "An Inquiry into the Origin 
of Paradise Lost." (ed. 1826. pp. Ixvii ff.). 

APPENDIX G RELIGIOUS TITLES 

The following titles belong more or less closely to this line of theo- 
logical thought. An examination of these works will show the Miltonic 
element fully as prominent as the titles may suggest: 

Thomas Burnetus, "The Theory of the Earth and Deluge and Paradise" (1684). 
Sherlock Wallis, "Discourses on the Possibility of the Trinity" (1694). Charles 
Leslie, "The History of Sin and Heresy" (1698) (Chap, v, note 47, above). Edw. 



264 THE MILTON TRADITION [356 

Young, "A Vindication of Providence ; or A True Estimate of Human Life" 
(lysS). Bishop Warburton, "The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated" 
(1737-8). He formerly announced "To vindicate the ways of God to man," as the 
purpose of this work. (Works, (1811). I, 197). James Bale, "An Essay toward 
the Rationale of the Liberal Doctrine of Original Sin, or. Vindication of God's 
Wisdom, Goodness, and Justice, in Permitting the Fall of Adam." (Mo. Rev., 
March, 1752. 6:223-6). Printed again later. (Cr. Rev., Oct., 1766. 22:257-66). 
B. Regis, D.D., "The Ancientness of the Christian Religion." From the Fall of 
Man. (Mo. Rev., Oct., 1753. 9:319). John Shuckford, D.D., "The Creation and 
Fall of Man.'' Liberal. (Mo. Rev., Jan., 1754. 10:58-70). Wm. Romaine, "The 
Sure Foundation." Text, Isa. 28:16. Deals with the Fall. (Cr. Rev., May, 1756. 
1:378-383). Delivered before Oxford Univ., Apr. 11, 1756. A. A. Sykes, D.D., 
"The Scripture Doctrine of the Redemption of Man by Jesus Christ." (Mo. Rev., 
May, 1756. 14:397-417). Anthony Forthergill, "The Fall of Man: An Enquiry into 
the Nature of that Event, and How Far the Posterity of Adam are involved in the 
guilt of his Transgression." (Mo. Rev., 1756. 15:677). Anonymous, "A Free En- 
quiry info the Nature and Origin of Evil." How reconcilable with the mercy and 
benevolence of the Supreme Being? (Cr. Rev., May, 1757. 3:439-448) (Mo. Rev. 
16:302-316). John Wesley, "The Doctrine of Original Sin, According to Scripture, 
Reason, and Experience." (Mo. Rev., Nov., 1757. 17:445-446). 

Hugh Farmer, "An Enquiry into the Nature and Design of Christ's Temptation 
in the JVildcrness." (Cr. Rev., July, 1761. 12:74-5. Mo. Rev., Aug., 1761. 25:130- 
141). Answered in. "Christ's Temptations Real Facts." (Cr. Rev., May, 1762. 
13:437) Jonathan Edwards, "A Careful and Strict Enquiry into the Modern 
Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will, &c." (Mo. Rev., Dec, 1762. 27:434-8). 
Capel Berrovv, "A Lapse of Human Souls in a State of Pre-existence. the Onlv. 
Original Sin, and the Ground-work of the Gospel Dispensation." (Cr. Rev., July, 
1766. 22:42-43). Archbishop King, "Sermon on the Circumstances of Man's Fall." 
(1766). William. Lord Bishop of Gloucester, "A Sermon Preached before the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." (1766, Feb. 21). 
(Cr. Rev., 22:393). Samuel Pye, M.D., "The Mosaic Theory of the Solar, or 
Planetary, System." Deals with Creation. (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1766. 22:410-415). 
Richard Price. "Four Dissertations. On Providence, &c." (Cr. Rev., Jan., 1767. 
23:9-17). Jonathan Edwards, "The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin 
Defended." A reply to John Taylor on same subject. (Cr. Rev., Oct., 1767. 
24:256). Rev. R. Shepherd, "Letters to the Author of a Free Enquiry into the 
Nature and Origin of Evil." No. 3 deals with "a Paradisiacal State." (Cr. Rev., 
July, 1768. 26:74-75). "A Lover of Genuine Christianity," "Some Considerations 
on Original Sin, the Fall of Man, and the Doctrine of a Christ." (Cr. Rev., Aug., 
1770- 30:157 

Anonymous, "The Key of Paradise, Opening the Gate to Eternal Salvation." 
(pp. 460. 1675). Anonymous, "The History of Adam and Eve." (Gent. Mag., 
Dec, 1738. 8:664). Charles Povey, "The Virgin in Eden: or the State of Inno- 
cency. (Gent. Mag., Nov., 1741. 11 :6i4). Thomas Hartley, "Paradise Restored: or, 
A Testimony to the Doctrine of the Blessed Millennium." (1764). A mystical writer 
who sympathized with Wesley, and opposed Warburton. (Cr. Rev., March, 1764. 
17:167-172. "Paradise Regained: or, the Scripture Account of the Glorious Millen- 



357 ] APPENDIX 265 

uiiDii." Pronounced an absurd "rabbinical dream." (Cr. Rev., April, 1772. 33:333). 
By a Listener. "Infernal Conferences; or Dialogues of Devils." "Must have been 
listening to Milton's Pandemonium." (Cr. Rev., Aug., 1772. 34:108-116). Anony- 
mous, "An Essay on the Justice of God." (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1773. 36:477). John 
Palmer, "Observations in Defence of the Liberty of Man, as a Moral Agent: In 
Answer to Dr. Priestley's Illustrations of Philosophical Necessity.'' (Cr. Rev., 
Oct., 1779. 48:261-272). Dr. Wm. King, late Archbishop of Dublin, "An Essay 
on the Origin of Evil," with "A Sermon on the Fall of Man." Edited by Edmund, 
Lord Bishop of Carlisle. 5th edition. (Cr. Rev., Jan., 1782. 53:77-78). Charles 
Chauncey, D.D., "Fiz'c Dissertations on the Scripture Account of the Fall: and its 
Consequences." (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1785. 60:444:453). Anonymous, "Paradise Re- 
viewed: a Scries of Essays, in zuhich are deduced our Duties in Life, from Man's 
Nature and Origin." (Cr. Rev., Nov., 1791. n.s. 3:350). 

The liberal space alotted to such publications in the current Revieivs 
is indicative of a large popular interest in this kind of literature. What- 
ever the strength of Miltonic influence upon the several authors of these 
publications, one may feel fairly safe in the opinion that most of them 
would be interpreted in the popular mind according to the teachings of 
Milton. The volume of this literature represents therefore a powerful 
contact of Milton with the popular religious life of the nation. 

APPENDIX H SOME EDUCATIONAL TITLES BEARING UPON 
MILTON'S INFLUENCE ON EDUCATION 

Of first importance, were the thirty-six editions of the Tractate 
(Chapter II, pp. 47-48 above). Most of the other titles were gathered 
from contemporary Revieivs, and are usually listed under the date of the 
review. The list is intended only to be sufficiently full to show the general 
trend of educational thought. 

1752. An Essay upon Edn., intended to show tliat the common method is defec- 
tive, in religion, morality, our own language, history, geography ; and that the 
custom of teaching the dead languages, when little or no advantage can be ex- 
pected from them, is absurd. (Mo. Rev., Dec, 1752. 7:473-4). 

1756. Thos. Sheridan. Brit. Education: or, the Source of the Disorders of 
Great Britain. Cites Milton with approval. (Mo. Rev., Feb., 1756. 14:81-104) 
(Cr. Rev., Jan., 1758. 5:51-54)- 

1757- J- Girrard. Practical Letters on Edn., Spiritual and Temporal ; e.vtracted 
from the most eminent authors on that subject. (Cr. Rev., Nov. 4:409-412). 

G. W. Robener. Satirical Letters. Tr. from German. Treats defects. (Cr. 
Rev., June. 1757- 3:499-So8). 

1759- The True Mentor: or, An Essay on the Edn. of the Young People of 
Fashion. Tr. from the French. (Cr. Rev., Nov., 1759. 8:409). 

1761. Jos. CoUyer. The Parent's and Guardian's Directory, &c. Treats prac- 
tical sides of Edn. (Mo. Rev., Jan.. v. 24:67-73). 



266 THE MILTON TRADITION [358 

Bishop Burnet. Thoughts of Edn. Now first printed from original Ms. 
"Grown much in demand." (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1761. 11:103-8). 

1761. Rev. Jas. Hervey. A Treatise on the Religious Edn. of Daughters. (Cr. 
Rev., June, 1761. 11:499. Mo. Rev., July, 1761, 25:79). 

1761. R. Wynne. Essays on Edn., by Milton, Locke, &c. (p. 48 above). Added 
"Observations on the Ancient and Modern Languages." (Cr. Rev., June, 1761. 
11:500. Mo. Rev., July, 1761. 25:76-77). 

1761. A New Estimate of Manners and Principles. Compares Ancient and 
Modern as to Knowledge, Happiness, and Virtue. Some principles of Mr. Rousseau 
examined. Modern educational system criticized. (Mo. Rev., Nov., 1761. 25: 
361-368). 

1762. The Defects of an University Edn., and its nnsuitahleness to a commer- 
cial people. From a Society. (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1762. I3:i6iff. Mo. Rev., 26:294). 

J. J. Rousseau (1712-1778). Emilius: or a New System of Edn. (Cr. Rev., 

1762, vol. 14, 250-270, 336-346, 426-440; vol. 15, 21-34. Mo. Rev., 27:213, 258, 342. 

1762. The Polite Lady; or, A Course of Female Edn. Letters from a Mother 
to her Daughter. (Cr. Rev., Nov., 1762. 14:399-400). 

1763. Observations on Mr. Rousseau's New System of Edn. (Cr. Rev., Feb., 

1763. 15:159- 

Jas. Elphinston. Education, in Four Books. Heroic couplets. (Cr. Rev., 
March, 1763. 15:214-216). 

1765. John Gottlob Kruger. An Essay on the Edn. of Children. Tr. from the 
German. ( Cr. Rev., Feb., 1765. 19:90 ff). 

Father (Bernabite) Gerdil. Reflections on Edn. Written in French, 
against Rousseau. (Cr. Rev., May, 1765. 19:358-411). 

Jos. Priestley, LL.D., An Essay on a Course of Liberal Edn. for Civil 
and Active Life. Emphasizes History for this purpose. (Cr. Rev., Aug., 1765. 
20:138-140). 

Dr. Brown. Thoughts on Civil Liberty. Outlines a Code of Edn. 

1769. Wm. Smith, M.D. The Students' I'adc Mecum. Recommends books to 
study. (Cr. Rev., Dec, 1769. 28:430-6). 

Thos. Sheridan. A Plan of Edn. for the Young Nobility and Gentry of 
Great Britain. (Cr. Rev., Nov., 1769. 28:342-8). 

1770. Jas. Buchanan. A Plan of an English Grammar School Edn. Counts 
Latin a part of liberal education. (Mo. Rev., .\ug., 1770. 43:154-5) (Cr. Rev., 
Sept., 1770. 30:238). 

Baron Biefield. Tr. by W. Hooper. The Elements of Universal Erudi- 
tion. (Cr. Rev., Oct., 1770. 30:262). 

Young. Course of E.xpcrimcntal .■igriculturc. Refers to Dr. Home's 
The Principles of Agr'l and Vegetation. { Cr. Rev.. Oct., 1770. 30:273-84, 321-35)- 
(See also pp. 398-399)- 

Jas. Beattie. Essay on Truth, Added an essay on the .Advantages of 
Classical Learning. Exalts Milton. 

1771. George Fordyce. Elements of Agriculture and Vegetation. ( Cr. Rev., 
Jan., 1771. 31 :6o-66). 

1772. J. Rice. A Lecture on the Importance and Necessity of rendering the 
English Language a peculiar Branch of Female Edn.: and on the Mode of Instruc- 



359] APPENDIX 267 

tion by tvhich it may be made subservient to the Purposes of improving the Under- 
standing, and of inculcating the Precepts of Religion and Virtue. Pt. I. "Remarks 
on the prevailing mode of Female Edn." Pt. II, "Outlines Plan of Edn.," and 
recommends both the Tractate and Paradise Lost. (Cr. Rev., July, 1773. 36:78-79). 
Jas. Wadhani Whitchurch. An Essay upon Edn. (Cr. Rev., May, 1772. 33:377). 

1774. David Williams. A Treatise on Edn. Considers the schemes of Milton, 
Locke, Rousseau, and Helvetius. (Cr. Rev., Sept., 1774. 38:210-215). 

1775. Wm. Enfield, LL.D. The Speaker &-c. Quotes the Tractate, and selects 
from Milton. (Cr. Rev., April, 1775. 39:273-6). 

1777. M. Helvetius. A Treatise on Man, his Intellectual Faculties, and his Edn. 
Tr. by IV. Hooper, M.D. Regards Milton, Locke, and Newton, as no results of 
mere education. (Cr. Rev., Nov., 1777. 44:327-341). 

1780. Wm. Scott. Lessons on Education. (Cr. Rev., March, 1780. 49:240). 

1781. Vicesimus Knox. Liberal Education. (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1781. 51:103-8). 
George Hawkins. Essay on Female Edn. Declaims against the unsatis- 
factory conditions of female boarding schools. (Cr. Rev., Oct.. 1781. 52:318). 

1782. Rev. R. Shepherd. An Essay on Edn. Pointed out defects, and recom- 
mended ten or twenty boys of same grade under one teacher. (Cr. Rev., June, 
1782. 53:478-9). 

Percival Stockdale. An Examination of the Important Question whether 
Edn. at a great School, or by private Tuition, is preferable. Prefers latter, against 
Kno.x. (Cr. Rev., June, 1782. 53:479). 

1783. Francis Whitfeld. The Utility and Importance of Human Learning, 
stated in a Sermon. (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1783. 55:i34). 

1786. Peter Williams. Letters Concerning Edn. "The author has made a fre- 
quent, but discreet use of the thoughts of Bacon, Milton, Locke, Harris, Mon- 
boddo, and other writers on learning and education." (Cr. Rev., Feb., 1786. 61: 
104-110). 

Hannah More. Hints Towards Forming the Character of a Young 
Princess. 2 vol. London. 3rd ed. 1S05. Quotes Milton's definition of a complete 
and generous education on her title page. 

1787. George Colman. Orthopedia, or Thoughts on Public Edn. Cites Mil- 
ton, Locke, and Cowper's Tirocinium (1785), in the same paragraph. Held Milton 
more favorable to public Edn., than Locke. (Mo. Rev., Oct., 1787. 77:273-281). 

1788. John Weddell Parsons. Essays on Edn. ( Cr. Rev., Aug., 1788. 66: 
139-141)- 

The list might be enlarged. The subjects discussed include : Litera- 
ture, Classics, Chemistry, Medicine, Agriculture, Horticulture, Philoso- 
phy, Theology, Geography, History, Shorthand, Higher Mathematics, Bot- 
any, Music, Military Tactics, &c. Every stage of educational work was dis- 
cussed, from the "grades" to the University. The education of women 
was very prominent ; and that of the nobility received considerable 
attention. The commercial aspects of common education began to 
emerge, and the idea of public schools was touched upon. 



268 THE MILTON TRADITION [360 

There seems to have been a decided discontented feeling toward the 
systems in vogue. The moral results of the schools were especially 
debated. There was a constant casting about for the hope of better 
things. Among those who may have been regarded as earlier authori- 
ties, none are more often referred to and quoted than Milton himself. In 
many cases, his ideas were cited as just the remedy that the interests of 
educational work most needed. 

APPENDIX I MILTON'S EDEN AND ENGLISH LANDSCAPE 
GARDENING 

English landscape gardening in the Eighteenth Century represented 
a strong revolt against the artificial gardens of the Seventeenth Century, 
seen more especially on the Continent. The literature of this revolt has 
been very well treated by Professor Beers in this chapter on Landscape 
Gardening (Hist, of Eng. Rom.), and by Miss Myra Reynolds, in her 
chapter on Gardening (The Treatment of Nature in Eng. Poetry, pp. 
180-192). But the latter especially is open to some criticism in dealing 
with the negative aspects of the subject, to the neglect of the constructive 
and productive influences which brought aboi;t the change in taste and 
practice. 

Among the more effective forces in producing this change in 
gardening, one must place the influence of Milton. Francis Coventry 
(d.l759), di-scussing "absurd Taste in Gardening," even in the mid- 
century, condemned Milton's "trim gardens" in Prnseroso, because they 
were drawn from the custom of his own day. ( World No. 15, April 12, 
1753. Br. Es. 1823. 22). But Milton's Eden was felt throughout the 
century to have been a concrete protest against the pervading custom of 
artificiality, and it seems to have had no small influence as a constructive 
force in molding the taste of the English people on this subject. 

In Paradise Lost (Book IV, 131-357) Milton gave an elaborate 
description of Eden. This Paradise, its very name a synonym for an 
Oriental garden, those sweet fields of Elysium adorned with all that 
imagination can conceive to be delightful, was a garden of Nature's 
own fashioning. It had 

Flowers worthy Paradise ; which not nice art 

In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon 

Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain C241-3). 

Earth, and the Garden of God, with cedars crown'd 
Above all hills. (260-1). 

He brought them into this delicious grove, 
This garden, planted with the trees of God, 
Delectable both to behold and taste. (537-39). 



361] APPENDIX 269 

And there the Poet made of the first Parents practical landscape gar- 
deners (ix, 192 flf ) . " Some of the most pleasing passages of Milton, ' ' said 
Knox, voicing the constant feeling of the century, "are those in which 
he represents the happy pair engaged in cultivating their blissful abode." 
(On the Pleasures of a Garden. Essays Moral d- Lit. (1779). 9th ed. 
1787. No. 91. vol. ii, 291). 

Milton's description of Eden received constant applause. When 
H. Hare (1636-1708) published his Situation of Paradise Found Out 
(London, 1683), he quoted therein two pages from Milton's description of 
Eden, tlius giving the sense of an earthly habitation, and strengthening 
the bond of union between Milton and the rising interests of Orientalism. 
B.ysshe, in his Art of Poetry (1702, ed. 1710, ii, 322-5), also quoted the 
description at great length. Addison highly commended "the beds of 
flowers and the wildness of sweets" in Eden for their refreshing influ- 
ence upon the imagination. (Spec, June 30, 1712). 

The Poetical Tributes to Milton have many pleasing references to 
Eden. (of. 66, 85, 163, 181, &c.). In 1734 (?)," Vincent Browne (1695- 
1747), in a Latin Poem, In Miltonum, ascribed considerable praise to 
Milton's landscape excellences. Similar praise, though in lighter tone, 
may be found in On a Flower Which Belinda Gave Me From Her 
Bosom (Poems, 2 ed. 1739, 168-171). This rather general feeling was 
very well voiced in Solitude. An Allegorical Ode (Gent. Mag., June, 
1748. 18:278), which is much in the spirit of II Penseroso: 

From empty mirth, and fruitless strife 
To sacred Solitude's retreat, 
Where Nature all her charms resumes, 
And Eden still unfaded hlooms. 

Professor Beers, quoting Gray and others, argues that James 
Thomson, in his Seasons (1726-30), was "perhaps, in a great measure, 
the father of the national school of landscape gardening." (Hist. Eng. 
Rom., p. 118). Doubtless this channel was one through which consider- 
able Miltonic influence from Eden reached the English imagination. 
Joseph Warton, in his Paper on the Blemishes in The Paradise Lost 
(Adventurer, Oct. 23, 1751), laid great emphasis upon the attractiveness 
of Milton's Eden. Lord Kames observed that "Milton, describing the 
Garden of Eden, prefers justly grandeur before regularity," and then 
quoted liberally of Milton's description. (Elements of Criticism, 1762. 
ed 6th. 1785. ii, 439). James Harris (1709-80) exalted the taste of 
Virgil, Horace, and "our great countryman, Milton," in connection with 
the delight in natural scenery, and quoted P. L. iv, 245ff and v, 292ff. 
(Works, 1841. 526). This was in a chapter "Concerning Natural 



270 THE MILTON TRADITION [362 

Beauty." One may compare also Thomas "Whateley's Observations on 
Modern Gardening (1770) for additional sentiment. 

There was a rather strong tendency to describe English gardens and 
landscapes in terms of Milton. Something akin to this usage appeared 
in Dr. William Brome's Epistle To . . . Elijah Pent on (1726), 
though the reference there is not local. (Chalmers, Eng. Poets, 12:18-19). 
Jesus Grove, Inscribed to a Lady (1727), was written by Wm. Bowman, 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who looked upon this grove, "And 
Paradise still opens to (his) mind." (Poems, 2 ed. London, 1732. 1-17). 
Nathaniel Cotton (1707-88), probably as early as 1730, wrote the follow- 
ing lines On Lord Cobham's Gardens. (Elegant Extracts, 1809. Bk. iv, 
No. 189) : 

It puzzles much the sage's brains, 

Where Eden stood of yore : 
Some place it in Arabia's plains; 

Some say it is no more. 

But Cobham can these tales confute, 

As all the curious know ; 
For he has proved beyond dispute 

That Paradise is Stowe. 

An anonymous Epistle to a Fellow Traveller {Gent. Mag., May, 1735. 
5:265-6) has two allusions to Milton, and a note which says, "The gar- 
dens of Eyford are thus described by Milton in his paradise lost, lib. 3, 
who wrote part and dictated the rest of that divine poem at this seat, then 
belonging to the D. of Buckinghamshire, now to the worthy Wm. 
Wanley, Esq." King William visited this retreat and thought it "a 
place out of the world." The Rev. Mr. Chamberlayne, in the Gentle- 
man's Magazine, December, 1741, (11:661-2), published a Poem Occa- 
sioned by a View of Powers-Court House, the Improvements, Parks, (&c., 
stating that 

"Thus Eden springs where once you found a waste." 

Charles Smith, in his History of the County of Kerry, has a quotation 
from Paradise Lost (Bk. iv) applied in a local way as the description of 
a beautiful woods. (Mo. Rev., Dec, 1757. 17:506-520). In the same 
manner, Edw, Stephens's poem On Lord Bathurst's Park describes 
that Park as "the bounteous Eden," in terms of Milton. (Poems. 1769. 
pp. 170-179). 

Gradually it came to be a matter of common thought that Milton 
had furnished a pattern for English gardens, and the adoption of his 
standards was even insisted upon. One may find such titles as, Paradice 
Regained: or, the Art of Gardening. A Poem, (1728), by John Law- 



363] APPENDIX 271 

rence; and Eden: or, a Compk-ut Body of Gardening. (Cr. Rev., Sept., 
1758. 6 :245-51 ) . There seems also a connection between Milton 's Eden 
and the following works of Sir Wm. Chambers: Essay on Chinese Gar- 
dens (1757), Description of a Chinese Garden (1760), and a Dissertation 
on Oriental Gardens (1772). The intimacy with which Milton entered 
into the practical thoughts of the mid-century English gardening may be 
seen in the following paper, by Cambridge, on the Advantages of Mod- 
ern Gardening, which appeared in The World, April 3, 1755: 

"I am particularly pleased with considering the progress which a just taste 
and real good sense have made in the modern modes of gardening." The author 
thought that "this forced taste (of France), aggravated by some Dutch acquisitions, 
for more than half a century, deformed the face of nature in this country." He 
held that Sir William Temple, in his "prophetic spirit points out a higher style, 
free and unconfined." 

"The boundless imagination of Milton in the fourth book of Paradise Lost, 
struck out a plan of a garden, which I would propose for the entertainment and 
instruction of my readers, as containing all the views, objects, and ambition of 
modern designing." He thought that "it is the peculiar happiness of this age to 
see these just and noble ideas brought into practice, regularity banished, etc." 
(Brit. Essayists, 1823. V. 23, No. 118). 

In 1757 an anonymous publication, in heroic couplets, appeared 
under the following title : The Rise and Progress of the Present Taste in 
Planting Parks, &c., from Henry VIII to King George III. In a Poetical 
Epistle to the Rt. Hon. Charles Lord Viscount Irwin. This work was 
said to have complimented Milton's ideas of horticulture at the expense 
of those of King William and Sir Wm. Temple. (Cr. Rev., June, 1767. 
23:460-1). Mo. Rev., Aug., 1767. 37:139-144). This comparison was 
cited with approval by Walpole, in his Essay on Modern Gardening 
(1785), and Temple received the same adverse comparison at the hands 
of Mason (English Garden. 1772-82). 

Les Saisons, Po'eme (Amsterdam, 1769), had a "Prefatory Discourse 
on Pastoral Poetry," pronounced "one of the best . . . extant," in 
which the author held that nature may be exalted by displaying "Iter 
at the moments when she is sublime," and found the best examples of 
this in Milton's description of Eden. The Book of Nature. A Poem 
(London, 1771), thought of flowers, etc., as making "a Paradise below." 

These rather unimportant materials were followed by a number of 
formal and important treatments of the subject of gardening. Ths 
English Garden, a didactic poem in blank verse, by the Rev. Wm. Mason, 
began to appear in 1772. The poem was in four books, which were pub- 
lished in 1772, 1777, 1779, and 1782. The completed work contained 
the general principles of the subject; and for its bearing lapon Milton's 
influence upon gardening, it will be sufficient to quote one sentence from 



272 THE MILTON TRADITION [364 

XhQ Monthly Review (46:219-226): "As he has styled Bacon the 
Prophet, so he calls Milton the Herald of true taste in gardening; and 
he here copies, from the Paradise Lost, the charming description of the 
Garden of Eden." 

Upon this influence of Milton Horace Walpole became somewhat 
eloquent in his Essay on Modern Gardening (1785, Works, 1798, vol. II, 
519-545). After attempting to explain how the "model of Eden" was 
lost, and how gardens had acquired an artificial development, he con- 
tinued as follows, patriotically contrasting England with all the world: 
"One man, one great man we had, on whom nor education nor custom could 
impose their prejudices; who 'on evil days though fallen, and w^ith darkness and 
solitude compassed round,' judged that the mistaken and fantastic ornaments he 
had seen in gardens, were unworthy of the Almighty hand that planted the de- 
lights of Paradise. He seems with the prophetic eye of taste to have conceived, 
to have foreseen modern gardening; as Lord Bacon announced the discoveries 
since made by experimental philosophy. The description of Eden is a warmer and 
more just picture of the present style than Claud Lorrain could have painted from 
Hagley or Stourhead. (These) lines exhibit Stourhead on a more magnificent 
scale (P. L., iv, 223-7). Hagley seems pictured in (iv, 227-30). What colouring, 
what freedom of pencil, what landscape in (iv, 237-47) ! Read this transporting 
description, paint to your mind the scenes that follow, contrast them with the 
savage but respectable terror with which the poet guards the bounds of his Para- 
dise (iv, 134-142), and then recollect that the author of this sublime vision had 
never seen a glimpse of anything like what he has imagined (either in the ancients 
or the moderns). His intellectual eye saw a nobler plan, so little did he suffer 
by the loss of sight. It sufficed him to have seen the materials with which he 
could work. The vigour of his boundless imagination told him how a plan 
might be disposed, that would embellish nature, and restore art to its proper office, 
the just improvement of imitation of it." Mr. Walpole thought it necessary to 
have an affidavit that Milton's description "was written about one-half a century 
before the introduction of modern gardening, or our incredulous descendants will 
defraud the poet of one-half his glory, by being persuaded that the poet had copied 
some garden or gardens he had seen, ... so minutely do his ideas correspond 
with the present standard." 

In 1790, the Abbe de Lille published The Garden; or, The Art of 
Laying Out Grounds. Translated from the French. The Critical Review 
complained that this author took no notice of "Pope, Thomson, Gray, 
and Mason, to each of whom he is highly indebted." (Cr. Rev., Oct., 
1790, 70:409-414.) The author did, however, devote forty-four lines to 
Milton, which are in the highest strains of praise, as may be seen by 



365] APPENDIX 273 

reference to Tribute 181. Reviewing a later edition of this work (1798), 
the Monthly Review took pride in saying: "The truth is that the Eng- 
lish taste in gardens, and laying out the grounds surrounding villas, 
and great provincial mansions, was suggested by Milton (In his de- 
scription of the Garden of Eden), by Addison, and by Pope, and was 
pursued and reduced to practice by Kent and Brown, a considerable 
time before even tradition had carried it to the Continent. We were 
certainly the first in Europe who quitted the regular style, etc." (Mo. 
Rev., March, 1799, 109(28) : 294-301.) 

John Aikin (1747-1822), in an essay On Milton's Garden of Eden, 
as a Supposed Prototype of Modern English Gardening (1798-9), en- 
deavoured to show "that the plan of Milton's Paradise is appropriate 
to it as a peculiar scene in creation, and by no means was intended to 
serve as a model for gardens made by human hands, — and also, that 
there existed various poetical descriptions of a similar kind before his 
time, some of which could scarcely fail of being present to his memory 

when he wrote It was his business to paint a natural scene, 

enriched with all the variety of delightful objects that could be assem- 
bled in one spot." 

Aikin then attempted to find the "sources" for Eden in the fields 
of Enna, the grove of Orontes, and the Mysian isle, which are used by 
Virgil and especially by Claudian. But more particularly in the Italian 
poets, the favorites of Milton, was the inspiration of the English poet. 
The gardens of Aleina by Ariosto, and of Armida by Tasso, "may be 
considered as the true prototype of the terrestrial Paradise." {Letters 
of a Father to his Son. Letter vi, 1798-9, II, 99-113.) 

Aikin argued very learnedly on this subject, and perhaps estab- 
lished his contention that Milton had "sources" and also that Milton 
had respect to art rather than landscape gardening in his conception 
of Eden. But all that may be granted without seriously ai?ecting the 
influence of Milton's imaginative appeal to the English people in this 
connection. Many modifying factors are involved in this question of 
the change of taste in gardening, and exact measurements are obviously 
impossible. But it would seem, in view of the persistent interest in this 
direction, that Milton's description of Eden must have been among the 
important forces that influenced the change of taste in landscape 
gardening. 



274 THE MILTON TRADITION [366 

APPENDIX J MILTON'S MONUMENT, GRAVE, 
AND FAMILY 

Under Whig influences, a Monument was erected to Milton in West- 
minster Abbey, in the year 1737 ; though sixteen years earlier the name 
of Milton had not been permitted to appear in that sacred place upon 
the inscription to the memory of another poet. The donor of this Monu- 
ment was WiUiam Benson, better known as Auditor Benson. He was a 
public spirited man, with sufficient means at command to carry out at 
least some of his plans. He had a Milton Medal made ; had Rysbeck to 
make two busts of Milton ; and later gave William Dobson £1,000 for a 
Translation of Paradise Lost into Latin Verse, which appeared in 1750- 
53 (p. 42 above). 

The Gentleman's Magazine (April, 1738, 8:218) gave the following 
notice of an "Inscription under a Bust, carved by Mr. Rysbeck, lately 
put up in Westminster Abbey between Butler and Prior: 

MILTON 
In the Year of Our Lord Christ, One Thou- 
sand Seven Hundred and Thirty-seven. 
This Bust of the Author of PARADISE 
LOST was placed here by WiUiam Benson, 
Esq. ; one of the two Auditors of the Impress 
to his Majesty King George III., formerly Surveyor 
General of the Works to his Majesty King George I. 

To the Author of Paradise Lost! The only protest against that 
Inscription to Milton was that the donor had devoted more space to him- 
self than to the great Poet. But Milton himself was felt to be suffi- 
ciently honoured in being described as the Author of Paradise Lost. 

By this happy honouring of Milton, Benson immortalized his own 
name, not only among the illustrious dead, but also in the grateful 
hearts of the living. Birch spoke of this Monument, while the plans of 
its erection were being carried out, in the highest terms of praise {Life 
of Milton, ed. 1738, I, p. Ixiii) ; as did also most of Milton's biographers 
after Birch. Sixty years later, Joseph Warton, in his edition of Pope's 
Works (1797), spoke of Benson as having "rescued his country from 
the disgrace of ha\ang no monument erected to the Memory of Milton 
in Westminster Abbey." (Cr. Rev., Jan., 1798, n. s. 22:10-18.) A 
Letter to Mr. Mason. Occasioned hy his Ode to Independency (1756) 
was, however, thought to have gone out of its way to make ' ' some severe 
and ill-timed reflections on Milton's political principles, entirely foreign 
to his subject," with a tirade against Milton's "Cenotaph of late 
erected .... in Westminster Abbey." (Cr. Rev., June, 1756, 1:481.) 



367] APPENDIX 275 

Another matter of much interest in connection with the erection 
of this Monument, was The Apotheosis of Milton. A Vision, which ran 
through several numbers of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1738 (8:232, 
469, 521; 9:20, 73). This was said to be the work of Wm. Guthrie 
(Mo. Rev., July, 1787, 77:69), though it was included bj- Sir John 
Hawkins in his edition of Dr. Johnson's Works (1787, vol. xi). 

Guthrie (1708-1770) represented himself as shut up for the night 
in the melancholy gloom of "Westminster Abbey. The Vision which 
appeared to him was announced in these words : ' ' Tonight an assembly 
of the greatest importance is held upon the admission of the Great 
Milton into this society." "This society" appeared in council, each 
member, in a characteristic manner, discussed the claims of Milton to 
membership, and Addison, with some assistance, introduced Milton to 
the august assembly. Another matter of similar import was An Elec- 
tion in Parnassus, a Dream, by "J. Nightmare," dated, "Oxford, June 
7, 1754." The main issue of the election was the question of Epic 
Poetry. There were three candidates in the field. "When the ballot was 
counted. Homer had 24, Virgil 12, and Milton 12. (Gray's Inn Jour- 
nal, No. 86. Drake's Gleaner, 1811, No. 1000, 2:395-404.) 

The Monument has one more point of interest iu connection with 
the inscription to Gray in the AbbeJ^ Chalmers (Eng. Poets, 18:838) 
added the following note to Mason's lines On Mr. Gray, in Westminster 
Abbey (Tribute 154) : "The cenotaph is placed immediately under that 
of Milton, and represents, in alto relievo, a female figure with a lyre, 
as emblematical of the higher kinds of poetry, pointing with one hand 
to the bust above, and supporting with the other a medallion, on which 
is a profile head inscribed, "Thomas Gray." On the plinth is the fol- 
lowing date: "He died July 31, 1771." "While reading the Tribute, 
one should remember that Milton is there "the Author of Paradise 
Lost." 



The Grave of Milton was not without some interest in the Eight- 
eenth Century. Milton was buried in the St. Giles Church-yard. In 
connection with his Life of Milton (1725), Fenton undertook to identify 
the Poet 's Grave ; but the sexton then in cliarge of the Church-yard had 
not been able to read the inscription on the supposed grave of Milton 
for the past forty years (P. S. to the Life). 

In 1790, however, the supposed Grave of Milton was broken open, 
the sacred remains exposed to public gaze, and some teeth and bones 
(according to some) actually sold as precious relics. (Mo. Rev., Nov., 
1790, 3:350). Le Neve wrote A Narrative of the Disinterment of Mil- 
ton's Coffin, in the Parish Church of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, on Wednes- 
day, 4th. of August, 1790. (Cr. Rev., Sept., 1790, 70:343.) But the 



276 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



remains thus exposed were thought to be the bones of a woman. Capel 
LofiEt, in his edition of Paradise Lost (1792), seems to have credited the 
exposure as genuine, and spoke of it as a "sordid mischief." (Todd's 
Life of Milton, 1826, p. 219.) The poet Cowper took the matter se- 
riously enough to heart to write Stanzas On the Late Indecent Liberties 
Taken with the Remains of Milton, anno., 1790. (The Ptl. Wks. of 
W— C—, 3 vols., 1896, ed. J. Bruce, III, 387-8.) 

Me too, perchance, in future days, 
The sculptured stone shall show. 
With paphian myrtle, or with bays 
Parnassian, on my brow. 

But I, or ere that season come. 
Escaped from every care, 
Shall reach my refuge in the tomb. 
And sleep securely there. 



So sang, in Roman tone and style, 
The youthful bard, ere long 
Ordained to grace his native isle 
With her sublimest song. 



Who then but must conceive disdam, 
Hearing the deed unblessed 
Of wretches who have dared profane 
His dread sepulcher rest? 

Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones 
Where Milton's ashes lay, 
Tliat tremble not to grasp the bones 
.\nd steal his dust away ! 

O ill requitted bard ! neglect 
Thy living worth repaid, 
.\nd blind idolatrous respect 
As much affronts thee dead. 

"August, 1790."* 



Milton's daughter, Mrs. Clark, and her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Foster, were objects of charity, toward whom the English people, in a 
semi-national way, expressed their regard for the great Poet. 

Mrs. Clark was visited by Addison in 1719, who recognized her 
from her likeness to Milton's picture, with which Addison was very 
familiar. Seeing her needs, he appealed to a few friends for help, and 
presented her with a purse of guineas. He also promised to procure 
her an annual provision for her life ; but, he dying soon after, she lost 
the benefit of this generous design. {Addisoniana, 1803, I, 158-9 ; II, 
149.) 

Some years later. Queen Caroline, who was then the Princess of 
Wales, generously bestowed upon Mrs. Clark help because she was in 
extremely reduced circumstances. Aaron Hill, speaking of this "Royal 
Regard for the Daiighter of Milton," said: "The Queen would atone, 
and propitiate for the Nation ! She would do too much Honour to the 
Daughter, (who, I think, claim 'd no Hereditary Brightness) because 
too little had been done to the Father, by spirits less capable to know, 
and distinguish him." {Epistle Dedicatory, Advice to the Poets, 1731, 
p. xiv.) Other references to the Queen's generosity may be found in 

*Cf. Tribute 182, p. loi above. 



369] .^PENDix 277 

Birch's Life of Milton; Newton's Life (li) ; Notes to Candour (Trib. 
65) ; Warton's Milton (1791, Introduction). See Mo. Rev., Feb., 1764 
(30:159) for some other matters. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Foster's destitute circumstances called forth a pub- 
lic benefit in 1750. Newton's treatment of Milton's family (Life, 1749) 
occasioned some corrections from William Lauder, who emphasized the 
poverty of Mrs. Foster, Milton's own grand-daughter, as a part of his 
own scorn for England's blindness in worshiping Milton. This cor- 
rection appeared in Lauder's Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of 
the Moderns (1750), to which Johnson, it seems, added an appeal in 
behalf of Mrs. Foster. This appeal was printed in the Gentleman's 
Magazine, and public interest was immediately aroused. 

Dr. John Dalton was also a prime mover in bringing these plans 
in her behalf into defmite form, according to the Monthly Review 
(March, 1797), 22:329). It was therein said, that Dalton was "known 
both as a poet and divine, but also remarkable for preparing for the 
stage the Comus of Milton, and with great industry searching for Mil- 
ton's grand-daughter, oppressed by age and poverty, and procuring for 
her a benefit at Drury-Lane Theatre in 1738, the profits of which were 
considerable." The date here given is an obvious mistake for 1750, 
when Comus was performed for her benefit. The event may be briefly 
told in the words of Edward Cave, editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, 
who, with the other prominent London printers (Dodsley, Cox and Col- 
lins, Payne and Bouquet), received subscriptions and sold the tickets. 
Cave said (Gent. Mag., 20:152) : 

"The intimation of her need was made by Lauder. Johnson sug- 
gested the plan to Garrick. Garrick and Lacy, managers of Drury 
Lane, furnished the Theatre free of rent. All concerned in Milton's 
"Works, and others of rank and distinction, contributed. John.son wrote 
the prologue (which was spoken by Garrick), (afterwards printed for 
her benefit (Trib. 93). The 4th. (of April) was the time set, but un- 
favourable circumstances hindered large siiccess, and the play was given 
again on the 5th." 

Dr. Newton subscribed liberally, and Tonson gave £20. The whole 
income amounted to about £130, which enabled Mrs. Foster to move into 
a better home and spend in comfort the remainder of her years, which 
were very few. 

Walpole had a hand in this affair, and spoke of it later with some- 
thing like national pride. Writing in The World (No. 8, Feb. 22, 1753, 
Br. Essayist, 1827, 16:32-36), he said, in words designed to recommend 
the unfortunate Theodore, King of Corsica, to the liberality of the 
public : 

"Who ever perused the stories of Edward II, Richard II, or 



278 THE MILTON TRADITION [370 

Charles I, but forgot their excesses, and sighed for their catastrophe? 
In this free-spirited island there are not more hands ready to punish 
tyrants, than eyes to weep their fall. It is a common care: we are Ro- 
mans in resisting oppression, very women in lamenting oppressors!" 
Then recommending a benefit play for the fallen king, Walpole said, 
"that the same human and polite age raised a monument to Shake- 
speare, a fortune for Milton's grand-daughter, and a subsidy for a cap- 
tive king." In that laudable connection, he very properly alluded to 
Garrick, as "that incomparable actor who so exquisitely touches the 
passions and distresses of self -dethroned Lear." 

Thomas Warton did not, however, feel so well about the results of 
this benefit, some forty years later. In that interesting Appendix to 
the Preface to his edition of Milton's Poems on Several Occasions (ed. 
1791, xli), "Warton referred to this Comus affair (1750) with an evident 
sense of humiliation. The sum, he said, was "only 130 pounds." He 
ventured to affirm that "the present age," with its advancement, would 
do far more for a grand-daughter of "the Author of Comus and Para- 
dise Lost." 

Probably this constant brooding over the treatment of Milton in 
his later life, rendered more keenly conscious to the English people by 
these public favours to his family in distress, did as much as any other 
force to create in England a growing sentiment for the proper support 
of English authors. This sentiment was strong, and took on a practical 
expression in the end of the Eighteenth Century, as will appear from the 
following paragraph, taken, through the Critical Review (Jan. 1796, 
n. s. 16:119-20), from A Dictionary of Literary Curiosities (8vo., Ridge- 
way, 1795) : 

"They who suppose it (Literature) will confer riches, are deceived; 
genius seldom enjoys the favours of fortune, the profits of authors do 
not keep pace with their reputation. Melancholy is the catalogue of 
men of letters who have pined in misery, and sunk under the pressure 
of indigence. Painful reflection! The philanthropick George Dyer, in 
his Dissertation on the Theory and Practice of Benevolence, has treated 
this subject with energy and feeling. To the honour of Literature in this 
country, a Society to Support Authors in Distress has been instituted 
within these two years. Many ingenious, unfortunate men, have re- 
ceived assistance from it. May its influence extend ! ' ' 



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Harris, Jas. The Works of James Harris, Esq. With Life and Character. 

Oxford, 1841. By his son, the Earl of Malmesbury. 
Hearne, Thomas. Reliquiae Hearnianiae: The Remains of Thos. Hearne, 

M.A., of Edmund Hall. By Philip Bliss. 3 vols. London. J. R. Smith. 

2 ed. 1869. 
Hurd, Richard, D.D. Works. 8 vols. London. 1811. 
Johnson, Samuel, LL.D. The Works. . . . By the Rev. Robert Lynam, 

A.M. 6 vols. London. 1825. 
Leslie, Chas. The Theological Works. 7 vols. Oxford. 1832. 
Lyttelton, George, Lord. The Works. 3 vols. London, Dodsley. 1776. 
Mason, Wm. Works. London. 4 vols. 181 1. 

Pope. Alexander. Works. 10 vols. London. 1889. Edwin-Courthope Ed. 
Scott. Sir Walter. The Works of John Dryden— With Life. London. 1808. 
Slienstone, Wm. The Works in Verse and Prose. 5th. ed. 1777. 3 vols. 

Dodsley. 
Swift, J. Works. Edinburgh. 1814. Sir Walter Scott Edition. 
Temple, Sir Wm. Works. Ed. by J. Swift. London. 1720. 
Villiers, George, Duke of Buckingham. The Works. 2 vols. 3rd. ed. 

London. 1715. 
Walpole, Horace, Earl of Oxford. The Works. 5 vols. Robinsons, London. 

1798. 
2 After 1801 

Ames, Percy W„ Ed. Milton Memorial Lectures, 1908. London, Frowde. 

1909. 
Arnold, Matthew. Essay on Milton. 
Bagehot, Walter. Literary Studies. 2 vols., ed. of 1884. By Richard H. 

Hutton. Written 1859. London. Lyman. 
Birrell, Augustine. Obiter Dicta. Second Series. Scribners, N. Y. 1893. 
Coleridge, S. T. Biographia Literaria. Edited with his .^esthetical Essays 

by J, Shawcross. 2 vols. Oxford. Clarendon. 1907. 

Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton. 1856. 
Collins, John Churton. Studies in Poetry and Criticism. London. Bell. 190S. 
Dixon, W. Macneile. In the Republic of Letters. London. 1898. 
Dowden, Edw. Milton in the Eighteenth Century (1701-50). Read at the 

Milton Tercentenary — 1908. 
Hitchman, Francis. i8th. Century Essays. London. 1881. 



381] BIBLIOGRAPHY 289 

Jeffrey, Francis. Contributions to the Edinburgh Review. 4 vols. London. 
1844. 

Jusserand, J. J. English Essays from a French Pen. London, Union. 1895. 

Robertson, J. G. Milton's Fame on the Continent. Read at Milton's Ter- 
centenary, 1908. 

Tomlinson, J. 3 Household Poets : Milton, Cowper, Burns. 1869. 

Trent, Wm. P. Milton after 300 Years. Longfellow and other Essays. 
New York. Crowell. 1910. 
3 Studies in Poetry and Versification 

1 Details in Chapters V-VII 

2 Other Studies 

Beaching, H. C. On the Prosody of Paradise Regained and Samson Ago- 
nistes. 1889. 

Blount, Sir Thomas Pope. De Re Poetica : or Remarks upon Poetry. With 
Characters and Censures of the Most Remarkable Poets, whether An- 
cient or Modern. London. 1694. 

Bridges, Robert. Milton's Prosody. 

Brown, Warner. Time in English Verse Rhythm. Col. Thesis. N. Y. 
Science Press. 1908. 

Bysche, Edw. The Art of English Poetry. 4tli. ed. 3 vols. London. 1710. 

Dabney, J. P. The Musical Basis of Verse. Longmans, London, 1901. 

Guest, Edwin. A History of English Rhythm. New ed. by Rev. W. W. 
Skeat. London, G. Bell & Sons. 1882. 

Gildon, Chas. The Complete Art of Poetry. 2 vols. London. 1718. 

Lewis, Charlton, M. The Foreign Sources of Modern English Versification. 
Yale Thesis. New York, Holt. 1898. 

Liddell, Mark H. An Introduction to the Scientific Study of English 
Poetry. London. G. Richards. 1902. 

Mayor, Jos. B. Chapters on English Metre. 2nd. ed. Revised and En- 
larged. Cambridge Univ. Press. 1901. 

Miller, Raymond Durbin. Secondary .Accent in Modern Englisli Verse 
(Chaucer to Dryden). Thesis, Johns Hopkins. Furst Co., Baltimore. 
1904. 

Neilson, Wm. Allen. Essentials of Poetry. Lowell Lectures, 191 1. Bos- 
ton and New York. H. M. & Co. 1912. 

Omond, T. S. A Study of Metre. London, G. Richards. 1903. English 
Metrists in the i8th. Century and 19th. Century, Being a Sketch of 
English Prosodical Criticism During the last 200 years. H. Frowde. 
Oxford Univ. Press. 1907. 

Poole, Joshua. The English Parnassus. Ed. 1677. 

Richardson, Chas. F. A Study of English Rhythm. Hanover, N. H. 1909- 

Saintsbury, George. A History of English Prosody. From the 12th Cen- 
tury to the Present Day. 3 vols. Macmillan, London. 191Q. 
Historical Manual of English Prosody. Same. 1910. 

Schipper. Jacob. A History of English Versification. Oxford, Clarendon 
Press. 1910. 
Englfsche Metrick. II. 1888. Bonn, verlag von Emil Strauss. 



3 THE MILTON TRADITION [382 

Symonds, John A. Blank Verse. John C. Nimmo, London. 1895. 
Thomson, Wm. The Basis of English Rhythm. 2nd. ed. 1906. W. & R. 
Holmes, Glasgow. 

Miscellaneous 

Brougham, Henry, Lord. Works. 10 vols. Edinburgh. 1872. 

Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton. Restituta; or, Titles, &c. Revived. 4 vols. 

London. 1816. 

Censura Literaria, Containing Titles, Abstracts, &c. 10 vols. London. 

1805-09. 
Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. 1621. 
Charlame, Louis. L'Influence Francaise en Angleterre au XVIP Siecle. 

Paris, 1906. 
Conway, Moncure D. The Writings of Thomas Paine. 4 vols. Putnam, 

New York, 1902. 
Cashing, Wm. Initials and Pseudonyms: A Dictionary of Literary Dis- 
guises. New York. 1888. 

Anonymous: A Dictionary of Revealed Authorship, Cambridge, U. S. 

A. 1890. 
Faculty, Col. Univ. Lectures on Literature— 1909-10. Col. Univ. Press, 

New York, 191 1. 
Forman, H. Buxton. The Poetical Works and other Writings of John 

Keats. London, 1889. 4 vols. 
Gummere, Francis B. Democracy and Poetry. Boston & N. Y., 191 1. 

H. M. & Co. 
Halkett, Samuel, Laing, Rev. John. A Dictionary of the Anonymous and 

Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain. Edinburgh, 1882. 4 vols. 

Wm. Paterson. 
Lee, Vernon. Studies of the i8th. Century in Italy. 

Lockwood, Laura E. Lexicon to the English Poetical Works of John Mil- 
ton. Macmillan, New York, 1907. 
Mackail, J. W. Coleridge's Literary Criticism. London. 1908. 
Mandeville, Bernard de. The Fable of the Bees. London. 1739. 
Morley, John. English Men of Letters Series. Macmillan, London and 

N. Y. 
Osborne, T. The British Librarian.— Abstract of Books. London. 1737. 
Payne, Thos., Jr. Catalogue of the Library of the late Right Rev. Thos. 

Newton, D.D. 1791. 
Reynolds, Myra. The Treatment of Nature in English Poetry Between 

Pope and Wordsworth. Univ. of Chi. Press, Chicago. 1896. 
Rousseau, J. J. Oeuvres Completes de J. J. Rousseau. Paris, 1824. 
Warton, Thos. Observations on the Fairy Queen of Spenser. 2 vols. Lon- 
don, 1807. 



383] BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 

G Milton and Education 

1 Bibliography. Appendix H. 

2 Later Discussions 

Browning, Oscar, of Edinburgh. To Master Samuel Hartlib (1644). Cam- 
bridge Univ. Press, ed. 

Laurie, Prof. Addresses : John Milton. 

Milton's Plan of Education, in The Pamphleteer. Vol. 17. 1813. 

Quick, Robert Herbert. Essays on Educational Reformers. Ed. 1897. 
Appleton, N. Y. 

Reber, Joseph von. John Milton's Essay Of Education. In German Trans- 
lation. Aschaffenberg. 1892. 

Seeley. Lectures and Addresses : Milton. 



GENERAL INDEX 



Abel, death of 227 
Achilles 205 
Addison, J. 
Aided Mrs. Clark 276 
Allegro 141 
Criticized 160 179 193 195 207 219 

256-259 
Critique 11-12 13 16 64 65 90 127 150 
152-155 176 193 194 197 252 256-259 
260 261 269 275 
Death 65 
Discovery of Milton 13 58 65 90 152- 

155 256-259 
Mentioned 70 180 273 
Spec. Papers q.v. 
Adreino 156 261 
Aeschylus 261 

72 73 78 82 87 90 105 II 

195 198 233 239 261 
Allegory 22 154 158 193 
America 26 94 98 104 107 109 174 175 
Anderson, J. P. 17 43 
Anderson, R. 27 136 
Angelo, M. 31 
Anstey, C. 90 93 96 231 232 
Areopigitica q.v. 
Arianism 259 260 
Ariosto 146 273 
Aristocracy of worth 245 
Aristotle 96 135 155 171 211 219 240 258 
Armstrong, Dr. J, 31 79 172 184 205 
Arnc, Dr. 37 168 
Arnold, M. 241 247 
Arthur, King 126 237 238 243 cf. 251 
Arts and Sciences 227-228 
Ashenhurst, Dr. 178 
Atterbury, Bp. Fr. 12-' 142 144 158 165 
Aubrey, J. 112 113 144 
Augustan Standards is 18 21 58 67 76 

93 145 146 149 150 151-155 160-166 

172 194 198 206 219 
Aylmer, B. 28 45-46 143 
"A. Z." 177 178 

Babylonish Captivity 242 

Bacon, Ld. 131 137 154 255 272 

Bacon, Fryer 259 

Bagot, W. 234 

Barbauld, A. L. 14 107 258 

Baron, Rich. 44 45 47 174 175 224 

Baron, Robt. 141 • 

Baretti, G. 156 261 

Barro, S. 53 144 



293 



Battle of Angels 54 55 56 57 .58 59 61 

62 63 65 69 72 73 81 89 95 97 98 99 

103 107 148 193 
Bavius 177 188 
Bavie, P. 125 n.24 132 
Beattie, J. 42 87 209 211 230 239 241 266 
Beaumont-Fletcher 20 173 196 204 216 
Beers, H. A. 17 18 19 22 170 222 230 

237 238 268 
Bell, J. 26 35 36 37 I-!-! 137 
Beljame. A. 13 
Benson, W. 16 21 164 180 274 
Bentley, R. 25 42 78 167 176 179 182 

190 200 201 
Berington. J. 189 
Bible. The 13 31 64 104 117 138 185 190 

198 200 220 222 24O 24I 242 246 261 

Bidlake, J. 104 

Biographies, v. "Contents," "Lives." 

Birch, T. 16 21 44 47 117 124-127 132 

141 144 158 168 174 180 183 224 274 

277 
Bishop, S. 86 206 
Blackall, O. 117 n.io 
Blackburne, Fr. 21 46 47 48 174 213 224 
Blacklock, T. 81 254 
Blackmore, R. 11 12 63 75 199 
Blackstone, Sir W. 70 
Bladon, R. 26 217 
Blair, H. 170 199 
Blair, R. 20 202 
Blake, W. 31 260 
Blank Verse- 
Controversy 84 86 134 147 160-166 196 

199 200-208 230-240 

Defended 93 106 141 160-166 201-206 

230-234 
Exalted 106 109 157 175 194 
Historical appeal 201-202 203-204 206 
Issues of 202 

Milton vs. Dryden 160-166 
Re-action in Form 18 19 74 163 164 

207 230 239 
Revieivs on (Monthly) 202 203 210 232 
(Critical) 202-203 230 232 236 241 
258 
Triumphant 234 
Used 175 185 186 187 271 
Verse, The q.v. 
Blindness 53 68 72 79 81 95 102 103 104 
107 109 112 116 118 119 120 122 123 
Blindness compensated 54 64 94 150 187 

n.8i 252-255 272 
Blount, Sir T. P. 63 116 147-148 



294 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



Bodmer, J. J. 30 31 257 

Boerhadeni, J. 213 260 

Boileau 197 

Bold, M. 42 185 

Bolingbroke, Ld. 158 

Bonaparte 226 

Bonneval, L. 185 

Bossu 155 258 

Bowie, J. 191 

Bowles, W. L. 20 103 106 

Bowman, W. 270 

Boyd, H. 262 

Boydell, 31 137 

Boyse, S. 70 168 239 

Bradshaigh, Lady 175 193 

Bramston, J. 67 

Breitinger, J. J. 30 31 

"Britannicus" 65 

Brooke. H. 262 

Broome, W. 121 270 

Brown, J. 70 

Brown, T. 255 

Browne, Sir T. 221 

Browne, V. 269 

Browne, W. 212 

Bruce, M. 91 

Brunswick 74 

Brydges, Sir S. E. 107 

Budgell, E. 157 257 

Buchanan, G. 127 132 212 

Buchanan, J. 217 

Buckhurst, Ld. 16 

Buckingham, Dk. 14 55 163 194 270 

Bunyan, J. 13 222 

Burke, E. 46 195-198 

Burnet, G. 118 214 

Burns, R. 104 

Burton, R. 20 173 

Busts of Milton 74 87 103 274 

Butler, S. 14 S3 113 182 196 274 

Byrom, J. 189 203 

Bysshe, E. 157 234 251 269 

Bywater, J. 247 

Cadell, T. 29 33 
Callander, J. 182 
Calvinism 220 
Campbell, C. 211 
Campbell, T. 18 211 254 
Canada 85 
Canning, G. 215 258 
Carlyle, T. 133 240 245 
Caroline, Qu. 176-179 276 
Catholic 220 245 259 
Cato 74 77 105 
Catsius, J. 14s 
Cave, E. 186 188 191 277 
"C. B." 189 
Cestre, C. 20 



Chambers, W. 271 
Chamberlayne, 270 
Charles L 53 59 69 109 112 113 115 117 

118 122 130 132 177 214 226 278 
Charles IL 14 15 44 100 131 132 145 

214 226 
Chatham 94 
Chatterton, T. 94 
Chaucer 17 70 79 no 195 
Chesterfield, 183 

Children and Milton 78 98 gg no 212 
Chivalry 237 

Chudleigh, Lady Mary 60 
Church, The 125 220 225-226 229 242- 

245 259 
Churchill, C. 87 138 234 
Gibber, Th. 75 129 257 
Civil War 128 223 225 241 244 
Clark, Andrew 113 
Clark, J. 179 
Clarke, Mrs. 176 276-278 
Classicism 148 158 160 174-175 196 199 

200-202 204-205 221 223 237 
Cobham, Ld. v. "Sir R. Temple" 
Coleridge, S. T. 204 218 237 
Collier, J. 148 
Collins, J. C. 119 156 
Collins, W. 20 22 75 173 194 239 
Colman, G. 35 36-37 204 212 267 
Colvill, J. 204 
Colvill, R. 82 
Combernack, R. 203 
Comminges, C. 146 
Commonwealth 114 ns iiS 122 123 160 

223 245 257 
Companion Poems 19 20 21 38-40 43 81 

84 85 98 121 127 136 141 142 153 169- 

173 198 201 210 216-217 219 239 268 
Comus 29 35-37 43 76 94 95 uS "7 121 

125 126 127 128 130 136 138 139 141 

151 168-169 170-1-1 210 211 212-213 

214 215 216-217 219 236 245 277-278 
Congreve, W. 61 67 141 194 195 
Contract for P. L. 14 16 28 29 192 
Controversies, v. "Contents" 
Cooper, J. G. 194 
Copieston, E. 217 
Copyright 23 255-256 
Corbett, C. 47-48 
Cornwallis, Earl 98 
Cotton, N. 78 270 
Couplets 20 71 106 14" 160-166 176 200- 

208 230 ff. 238 239 248 262 271 
Courthope, W. C. 13 19 
Courtney, Miss 79 
Couventry, Fr. 268 
Cowley, A. 17 55 60 66 75 142 145 194 

195 213 



387] 



GENERAL INDEX 



Cowper, W. 27 31 41 51 57 60 74 96 99 
loi 105 137 195 212 2is 218 234 267 
276 

"C. R." 190 

Craddock, Fr. 53 

Crawford, C. 94 

Criticism, Milton's 235-236 

Cromwell, O. 78 109 113 116 122 127 
132 133 136 22s 

"C. T. O." 216 

Cumberland. R. 209 220 

Cunningham, J. 90 171 

Cust, L. 31 

D'Alembert, M. 2^<, 

Dalton, J. 35-37 168 277 

Dante 31 no 156 246 262 

Darwin, E. 233 255 

Davenant, W. 112 131 

Davies, S. 69 

Dawes, R. 42 

Death, Vision of in P. L. 154 158 180 

193 223 227 
Debrett, J. 94 I9S 
Delany, P. 65 
Democracy 46 134 229 242 
Denham, Sir J. 40 60 194 200 238 
Dennis, J. 11-12 148-150 155 159 248 
Descriptive poetry 238 
Didactic poetry 240 
Diderot, D. 255 
Dillon, W. 56 60 164 165 
Dixon, W. M. 19 
Dobson, W. 42 43 192 274 
Dodd, W. 197 257 
Doddington, G. B. 170 
Dodsley, J. 29 
Dodsley, R. 37 75 277 
Donne, J. 194 
Dorset, Countess 58 
Dorset, Ld. 28 67 
Douglas, J. 191 192 
Dowden, E. 17 21 144 220 239 247 
Drake, N. 173 191 201 216 220 258 
Drama 247 

Drayton, M. 195 196 216 
Druid 170 
Drummond 216 
Dryden, J.— 

Couplets 60 86 160-165 

Crit. of Milton 141 143 146-147 ISO 
151 153 160-163 

Criticized 54 127 164-16; 172 173 194- 
195-20=; 

Epigram 57 120 

Mentioned 16 17 18 29 37 38 40 42 
56 62 85 Qi TOO 120 127 144 146-147 
757 164 165 igS 200 217 232 261 
Du Bartas 263 



Du Moulins 45 

Dunbar, J. 214 

Duncombe, J. 82 

Duncombe, W. 168 169 201 

Dunster, C. 33 218 263 

Dursley, Lady 58 

Dwight, T. 104 

Dyer, J. 82 

Over, G. 278 

Eden, Garden of 58 61 63 64 66 67 69 
71 74 75 77 78 80 81 82 84 87 88 91 
93 94 95 06 97 100 103 105 109 125 
144 145 183 184 193 213 220 237 245 
266 268-273 

Editions of Milton — 

See "Contents" and "P. L." 

Authorities 279 

Critical 33 176-179 182 217 

First 27 ff. 

Prose Works 43 48 116 124 127 172- 

175 
Summaries 34 49 
Editor Theory 176-179 200 
Education 47-48 86 188 211-212 246-247 

265-268 
Edwards, T. 182 

Eikonoklastes 43 45 46 i74 I75 224 
Elegy 20 231 
Ellwood, T. 119 144 
Elphinston, J. 96 266 
Elton, O. 17 18 155 
Emil, C. 171 
Evans, A. 62 
Evans, J. 137 217 
Eusden, L. 64 
Eve 78 86 88 95 loi no 152 153 183 I94 

198 220 244 
"Evil tongues and days" 13 72 74 79 81 
91 92 100 102 103 107 109 n2 114 
118 120 121 122 123 130 131 146 177 
178 242 246 247 252 255-256 258 262 
272 276 278 
Evremond, St. 141 
Expansiveness in poetry 239 
Eyford Gardens 270 

Faithborne 28 

Fall of Man 57 77 81 90 94 105 109 no 

126 135 181 193 245 
Family of Milton 28 123 129 169 190 

276-278 
Fancy 70 73 78 82 84 87 92 97 100 loi 

141 161 164 193 212 
Fawkes, Fr. 262 
Felton 160 
Fenton, E. 25 37 ,-^8 120-121 129 142 168 

177 194 270 275 
Filmer, Sir R. 185 



296 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



Filon, P. M. A. 17 

Firth, C. H. 45 251 

Flaxman, J. 31 

Flesher, M. 28 

Fletcher, J, v. "Beaumont" 

Foot, C. 85 

Foreman, S. 236 

Form, poetical, v. "Blank-Verse" 

Formey, M. 236 

Foster, J. 29 

Foster, Mrs. E. 29 76 129 i6g 190 255- 
256 276-278 

Foulis, R. & A, 25 26 30 32 39 40 182 

French Criticism, v. "Augustan stand- 
ards" 

Frere, J. H. 15 

"F. T." 180 

Fusili, J. H. 30 

Gallery, Milton 30 31 95 96 152 157 256 

Gardening 100 219 237 268-273 

Garnett, R. 17 43 

Garrick, D. 76 80 171 277 278 

Gauden 117 142 

Gay, J. 157 196 

Gent, T. 107 

"Gent, of Quality" 163 

George III 30 274 

Gessner, S. 30 

Gildas 251 

Gildon, C. 25 40 irs-ii6 127 141 150 

160 162 163 164 16s 251 253 261 
Gillies, J. 26 27 218 
Gilpin, J. 98 
Gisborne, T. 105 
Glasse, G. H. 35 43 210 
Glossary 30 
Glover, R. 200 210 
Godwin, W. 16 21 113 144 225 229 
Golden Age 229 241-243 
Goldsmith, O. 29 39 ^8 172 192 195-196 

198 206 210 232 
Goodall, G. 55 

Goodness of human nature 226 
Goodwin, J. 118 123 
Gosse, E. 20 
Gothic 97 210 237 
Gottsched 157 
Granville, G. 56 165 194 
Grave of Milton 69 74 77 loi 187 n.8i 

275-276 
Graves, R. y2 95 96 
Gray, T. 20 22 77 78 80 84 87 92 98 lOS 

171 173 183 204 205 214 217 218 22s 

236 239 253 261 262 269 272 275 
Grecian Art 241 
Green, G. S. 25 26 181 
Green, T. 31 210 218 
Gregory, Griffin 215 



Grotius, Hugo 185 186 188 IQI n.89 261 
"G. S." 187 
Gummere, F. B. 223 
Guthrie, W. 257 275 
"G. W." 69 

Hagley Park 211 272 

Hamburg, Sir C. 70 

Hamilton, N. 34-35 

Hamilton, W. 57 

Hammond, J. 70 100 

Handel 34 39-40 85 129 169-170 

Hardinge, G. 94 

Hare, H. 145 269 

Harris, J. 201 269 

Harris, W. 132-133 224 

Harte, W. 66 91 

Hartley, T. 221 

Hartlib, S. 47 

Harvard College 175 

Havens, R. D. 17 28 147 

Hawkey, J. 25 179 

Hawkins, Sir J. 210 275 

Hayes, D. 90 

Hayes, S. 218 

Hayley, W. 14 27 41 96 97 137 213 219 
225 234 263 

Hazlitt, W. 236 • 

Hearne, T. 251 259 

Heber, R. 85 

Hebrew Theocracy 241 246 247 

Hedge, F. H. 222 

Heeley, J. 211 

Helder, T. 22 

Hell 69 105 148 154 221 226 

Heron, R. (Pinkerton) 217 

Hervey, J. 83 204 265 

Hill, A. 12 74 143 165-166 196 203 276 

Hill. Sir J. 171 

Hitchman, F. 233 

Hobbes, T. 63 69 113 185 n.77 

Hog, W. 37 43 186 igi 192 

Hollis, T. 21 117 132 174 192 224 

Homer 18 30 51 55 57 61 66 67 68 72 
73 74 82 83 86 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 
98 104 105 106 109 121 129 130 147 
149 ISO 152 154 158 159 160 161 187 
188 190 193 194 197 198 199 200 203 
205 209 215 235 246 255 258 261 275 

Hoole, J. 262 

HoolCj S. 254 

Hopkins, J. 163 

Horace 19 65 75 146 147 155 164 192 
203 269 

Horton 40 210 211 

Howard, F. 98 

Hughes. J. 15 64 157 169 193 iq6 307 

Hume, D. 130-131 133 251 

Hume, P. 29 148 176 181 



389] 



GENERAL INDEX 



297 



Hurd, Bp. R. 74 i7^ i/S i93 258 

Hurdis, J. 102 212 

Hyde, Edw. 155 11.15 -06 n.43 U^ 178 

Idealism 241-248 

Imagination 21 124 13; 154 156 15; 158 
161 173 176 199 202 203 219 220 221 
223 226 237 238 239 243-244 247-248 
271 272 

Imitation 78 80 95 96 121 158 159 163 
166 167-173 172 182 187 193 2og 219 
230 2^2 234 236 239 254 261-263 273 

Index, V. "P. L." 

Inscription, M.'s in W-Abbey 274 

Ireland 37 

Irving, E. 184 

Irwin, E. 226 

Italian Poems 40-41 52 95 126 210 

Jackson, W. 38 

Jacob, G. 31 119-120 144 

James I. 132 214 

James II. 132 145 

"J. C." 185 

Jebb, R. C. 179 

Jennens, C. 39-40 

Jephson, R. 95 

"J. M." 190 

Johnson, J. 27 34 id 

Johnson, Dr. S. — 

See "Contents" and separate titles 
Cited 16 28 29 55 98 120 134-136 127 
128 130 137 138 139 142 174 179 183 
194 196 221 233 236 257 275 
Coinus and Lycidas 76 139 212 215 

219 277 
Editor 26 80 197 217 
Family of Milton 76 277 
Lauder Affair 185 188 190 191 
Paradise Lost 133-13S I93 
Samson 171-172 209 210 212 
Toryism 134-135 196 212-213 222 224 
Verse Form 201 

Jones, Sir W. 210 211 

Jonson, B. 13 79 145 195 

Jortin, J. 179 213 

Jusserand, J. J. 156 

Kames, Ld. (Henry Home) 198 200 

201-202 206 207 258 269 
Keate, G. 87 
Keats, J. 107 
Keddington. R. 198 258 
Kellet, A. 233 
Kennet. Bo. W. 119 251 
Kenrick, W. 205 
Kent 273 
Ker, \V. P. 247 
Kiddell. H. 81 



King, W. 62 63 

Kirkpatrick, J. 190 

Knight, S. 99 

Knox, V. 36 38-40 233 240 258 267 269 

Landor, W. S. no 213 261 

Langbaine, G. 115-116 141 

Langhorne, J. 41 84 85 95 

Latin Poems 41-43 126 210 274 

Lauder, W. 129 142 184-192 261 277 

Law, J. 85 

Law, W. 184 221 

Lawes, H. 35 37 

Lawrence, J. 270 

Lawrence, Sir T. 29 

Lazar House 31 180 227 

Leasowes 211 n.13 

Lee, N. 56 194-195 

LeFevre, T. 47 

Leland, T. 199 

Le Neve, P. 41 214 216 275 

Leslie, C. 148 

Leti, G. 225 

Liberalism, in — 

Religion 117 220-221 222 

Politics 106 113 117 124 173-175 214 
224 241-243 

Thought 180 223 242-243 

Verse Form 74 163 164 207 230 ff. 
Liberty and righteousness 45 76 226- 

227 228 240 244-248 251 
Lilburne, J. 226 
Lille, Abbe de 60 272 
Littelton, E. 65 
Lloyd, D. 115 

Lloyd, R. 77 80 81 86 191 n.89 
"L. M." 190 

Locke, J. 47 82 95 96 98 137 1"=; 223 253 
Loft, Capel 27 218 276 
Loliee, F. 246 
Long Parliament 45 251 
Longinus 150 155 180 197 
Louis IV. 146 
Lovibond, E. 91 
Lowell, J. R. 17 
Ludlow Castle ^7 

Lycidas 37-38 43 81 116 117 121 125 126 
127 136 139 141 1-12 154 168 170 210 
212 215 217 
Lyttelton, G. Ld. 196 

Macaulay, Mrs. C. 133 224 255-256 

Macpherson, J. 232 

Madan 212 cf. 262 

Mallet, D. 178 

Mandeville, B. 157 

Mann. H. 219 

Manners, Lady 105 

Maiisus 41 126 238 



298 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[390 



Mant, R. io6 

Manwood, T. 212 

Marchant, J. 25 182 

Marriott, T. 83 

Marvell, A. 13 54 60 113 122 143 144 

162 174 
Masenius, J. 186 188 191 n.89 261 
Mason, J. 201 

Mason, W. 20 71 81 83 92 96 105 172 
210 218 219 233 236 239 2S3 271 272 
274 
Massey, W. 197 
Masson, D. 16 17 28 29 44 112 114 138 

144 
"Matter of Britain" 238 
Meadowcourt, R. 183 
Medievalism 222 237 
Melancholy 18-19 29 216 
Melcomb, Ld. 170 
Melmouth, W. 68 
Mendes, M. 12 78 
Methodism 218 221 243 
Mickle, W. J. 79 91 223 236 252 262 
Mill, J. S. 240 
Millar, A. 29 35 36 44 
Millennialism 221 243 
Milton, Sir C. 259 
Milton, J.— 
See "Contents" and several titles. 
Above criticism 58 61-62 66 78 98 146 

147 151 159-160 25- 
Bed 117 

Champion English liberty 100 106 117 
124 125 128 130 132 133 134 139 17s 
214 218 219 224 225-230 241 
Compared, v. "Cowley." "Dryden," 
"Homer," "Pope," "Virgil," "Wal- 
ler" 
Early life 52 103 211-212 213 237 274 
Early reputation 11-18 24-50 51-67 74 

91 92 I 12-127 140-166 256 
Genius 70 72 81 86 92 96 99 103 118 
121 123 124 128 130 131 136 13-? 146 
147 151 154 158 161 168 169 178 187 
193 195 199 205 207 214 215 216 217 
220 224 235 25s 2^6 261 
Ghost 59 Id 
Grave q.v. 
In Heaven 60 61 73 77 84 87 88-89 

07 105 109 
Influence 18-22 22-23 209-249; on pa- 
triotism 73 75 76 81 85 90 98 100 
loi 106 108 109 129 174; on the 
Continent 21 J2 126 127 128 148 156 
166 181 229 273 ; on liberty, q.v. ; on 
verse-form 76 106 173 201 202 239; 
on poetry in 230 237 250 247-248; 
in America, q.v. 



Inspiration 52 53 54 55 60 61 68 70 

■;2 78 97 107 138 146 149 150 221 239 

240 242 246-247 254 261 
Latin verses 41 126 212 213 
Literary Gospel 240 248 
Manner of life 72 75 81 103 112-113 

119 124 
Poetic Art 220 240 242 246-247 252- 

255 
Politician, the 14 56 58 62 69 73 109 

112-113 114 115-116 117 118 120 123- 

124 125-126 128 130 132 134 136 138 
142-143 145 167 174-175 178 n.43 181 
213 214 222-230 242 

Prose Works 43-48 49 58 59 116 117 
124-127 130 136 142-143 166 167 173- 
175 209 213 218 219 224-225 229 240 
243 257 

Rank established 71 74 76 82 90 103 
105 no III 123-124 126 129 144-166 
192 199 

Religion 19 103-104 106 no 114 124 

125 128 129 130 135 136 138 159 184 
213 220-223 227 239 241-243 256 259- 
260 263-265 

Scholarship 52 53 79 83 84 87 99 103- 
104 107 124 128 143 162 216 

Style 60 80 118 122 123 127 144 150 
153 159 160 163 169 180 195 213 225 
276 

Subject 126 147 221 243 

Sublimity 54 58 61 63 65 66 67 6g 70 
74 76 79 80 81 86 87 94 98 102 105 
107 123 124 129 130 138 139 142 144 
145 147 149 158 180 184 190 193 194 
197 199 211 219 246 253 254 255 276 

Use of rhyme 19 87 127 141 

View of happiness 216 223 227-228 
240-241 245-247 " 

View of moral order 14 52 75 227 
240-248 
"Miltonicus" 186 
"Milton-mad" 21 86 
Minor Poems (Milton) ig-23 20 32-34 
40-41 43 49 88 114 n6 117 121 124 

126 129 136 i.TO 141-142 166 167-173 
209-217 219 239 

Mirabeau 21 46 47 225 

Missionary activities 243 

Mitford. W. 2.^1 

Montagu, Lady Mary 65 219 

Montgomery, H. R. 151 

Moii',i"-pm. M.'s 74 87 103 164 196 274- 

278 
Moor, J. 108 
More. Sir T. 242 
Morley, J. 156 222 
Morris, J. W. 260 
Moses 158 



391] 



GENER.VL INDEX 



299 



Moseley, H. 126 141 

Mottley, J. 127 

Mozzi, Sig. 41 

Munro, T. 15 

Murphy, A. 191 

Mysticism 220-222 238 245-246 247 253 

Nativity Ode 127 169-170 217 

Neal, D. 122-123 

Neville, T. 92 cf. 175 

Newman, J. H. 240 

Newcomb, T. 204 

Newton, Sir I. 82 8s 92 94 99 104 132 

255 
Newton, T. 25 27 29 30 32-33 120 128- 

129 139 172 182 183 197 251 277 
Nichols, Jo. 44 
"Nightmare, J." 275 
Obedience 246 n.96 
Octosyllabics 19 
Odes 42 

Ogilvie, J. 79 84 88 239 
Ohio 8s 

Oldham. Sir J. 55 
"Old Man" 200 
Omond, T. S. 220 
Orientalism 71 237 269 
Orthodoxy 220 259 260 
Osborne. T. 26-27 
Otway, T. 144 157 194 195 
Ovid 154 164 212 261 263 

Paget, Dr. N. 114 144 
Paine, T, 225 226 
Panting. S. 84 
Paradise Lost — 
An authority 158 183 220 230 232 235 

Biographical notices 114 116 117 118 

119 121 122 123 12.1 126 127 128-129 

130-131 134-135 13; 138 139 
Commercial interest 28-29 49-50 148 

177 183 192 241 255-256 
Copy to Geo. Ill 30 
Criticisms, v. "Contents." 
Divine Poem 53 61 78 83 92 103 121 

159-160 183 186 213 221-222 236 240 

247-248 257 
Editions 25-30 148 ISS 176 179 182 

230 ; Variorum 16 30 128 137 182 

216 
Exalted in tributes 51-111 
Explained 148 167 ff. 175-181 217 n.36 
In Lat.-Gk. 41-43 274 
In Prose 25 

In the pulpit 75 18 < 220 226 
In social circles 57-58 79 84 90 95 152 

154 183 218-219 257-258 
Indexes 30 155 181 182 



Publication difficulties 14 27-28 121 

127 143-144 241 255 
Quoted 75 81 90 92 103 107 no 135 
136 185 189 220 226 227-228 238 (cf. 
246) 252 253 254 2=5 268 272 
Related to Moral reform 148 ff. ; 
Politics 138-139 143 148 174-175 
222-229; Prose Works 209 243; Ro- 
mance 222 237 
Treatment of Deity 134-135 150 156 
198; Love 152 153 156 183; Social 
evils 180 227 240-248 
Under French standards, q.v. 

Paradise Regained 19 31-34 42 47 50 
96 114 116 119 121 138 142 144 156 
182-183 187 217 n.36 238 243 270 

Parker, P. 25 27 

Parker, Bp. S. 122 

Parkin, M. 98 

Parnell, T. 64 158 194 

Parsons, E. S. 113-114 

Pater, W. 253 

Paterson, Dr. J. 181 

Pattison, M. 17 

Pattison, W. 57 66 

Paul, H. G. 149 

Pearce, Z. 167 178 261 

Peck, F. 45 127 139 168 169 172 180 261 

Peele 185 

"P. E. M." 14 

Pemberton, H. 179 201 

Penn, J. 105 210 

Percy, Bp. T. 115 206 

Perry, T. S. 13 28 222 258 

Personification 173 

Phelps, W. L. 17 18 19 22 200 205 

Philips, J. 19 25 62 67 90 121 202 214 

Phillips, E. 44 113 115 116 n8 127 143 
144 164 182-247 248 

Phillips. J. 115 

"Philo-Milton Petriburgensis" 186 

"Philo-Miltonus" 189 

Pickering 29 

Pindar, P. (Wolcott) 103 

Pitt, Chr. 194 

Pitt, R. 42 

Plato 154 216 242 253 

Plumptre, J. 38 43 

Plutarch 242 

Poetical platform 70 idO 161 247-248 

Poetical tributes 51-111 253 269 277 

Poetry and religion 148 150 

Polwhele, R. 235 

Pomfret. J. 157 

Poole, J. 141 

Pope, A.— 
Compared with Milton 59 70 78 82 
91 170 172 173 194-195 196 201 202 
203 204-205 206 219 232 234 



300 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[392 



Mentioned 20 42 63 67 69 71 75 78 93 

127 141 144 149 158 159 197 198 200 

231 233 262 272 273 
Works IS 66 78 142 274 
Portraits of Milton 28 123 175 276 
Poscher. R. 13 
Potter, R. 76 
Power, 41 
Powis, 183 

Prayer in Eden 213 220 235 
Prince of Wales 48 
Prior, M. 58 59 14'^ 158 16; 104 195 196 

251 274 
Prowett, S. 29 
Puritanism 14 132 ij- 148 173-174 239 

242-246 259 
Pym 106 

Quakers 119 221 245 2S9 
Quarles. F. 12 
Queen Anne 20 174 
Quotations of P. L. 150 151 153 157 158 
253 

"R. A." 186 

Radicalism 174 220 225-230 242-243 

Raekman, J. 27 

Ramsay, A. 141 187 

Raphael 85 91 97 193 254 

R_d B— V 86 

Reed, E. B. 22 

Reed, J. 81 

Renaissance 241 

Republicanism 128 136 224 245 259 

Restoration Period 14-15 S3 65 112-113 

123 124 130 131 142 145 146 148 160 

182 204 209 246 262 
Revolution— 1688 16 28 132 143 145 148 

222-224 246-247; French 46 47 229 

242 
Reynolds, Myra 268 
Rhyme 67 68 71 76 80 81 84 86 q^ no 

160-166 179 ig6 203-220 230-240 248 
Richardson, J. 15 27 30 123-124 125 

139 168 179 181 259 
Richardson. R. 182 187 189 190 211 
Richardson, S. 31 193 
Righteousness 45 52 83 244-248 
Ritson, J. 27 38 39 263 
Roberts. W. 93 231 237 
Robertson. J. G. 21 157 
Robinson, H. C. 31 .SO n.io 
Robson, J. 184 
Rogers, S. 29 n.io 
Rolli. P. 35 156 257 261 
Roman organization 241-242 
Romance 222 237 
Romantic Movement 18-23 30 49 134 

149 167 173 175 176 192 194 197 200 



204 207 209 218 220 230 235 237 239 



241 245 
Roscoe, W: 



Roscoe, W. 100 245 
Roscommon, v. "W. Dillon 
Rousseau, J. J. 30 225 229 245 266 
Riiffhead, O. 232 
Rynier, T. 146 162 

Sackville. C. Ld. Middlesex 59 

Saintsburv, G. 17-21 232 

St. Giles Churchyard 275 

St. Maur, R. 181 

Salaville, J. B. 47 

Salniasius 53 118 122 142 185 

Samson Agonistes 29 22, 34 35 42 43 "4 
115 116 128 137 138 I.S9 141 142 144 
uS 157 169 J71-172 182 183 185 209- 

210 2X2 252 

Sandys, G. 185 194 

Say. S. 42 60 201 

Sayers, F. 210 

Schelling, F. E. 185 

Schipper, J. 21 

Scott, J. 71 97 197 215 

Scott, Sir W. 217 

Searle. G. 142 

Seccombe. T. 21 42 127 

Sedley, Sir C. 158 

Seighton, F. 92 

Settle, E. 145 163 

Seward, Anna 31 216 218 233 

Shakespeare 13 17 31 66 69 70 73 74 76 
77 79 80 83 85 87 90 91 92 96 98 104 
105 106 no 121 127 145 156 158 163 
184 189 194 19s 196 198 202 203 210 
219 221 241 258 278 

Sheffield, J. v. "Buckingham" 

Shelley, P. B. 109 

Shenstone. W. 20 6g 87 170 179 

Sheridan. T. 195 232 234 265 

Shields, R. 76 130 

Sidney, A. 174 175 

Simmons, S. 25 27 28 

Smart, Chr. 39 43 57 78 172-173 

Smith, Chas. 270; Edm. 62; Wm. 180 

Social evils, v. "P. L." 226-230 

Societv for authors 278 

Somer'ville. W. 63 67 

Sommers, Ld. 15 74 79 130 

Sources of Milton 156 192 261-263 273 

Southey. R. 107 108 

Sparks, J. 46 

Spence, J. 254 

Spencer, Lady 210-211 

Spenser, Edm. 13 15 17 19 20 55 60 61 
66 67 70 72 73 74 77 79 80 87 91 no 
126 146 147 158 182 190 193 194 195 
ig8 206 216 236 261 

Spingarn. J. E. 55 247 



393] 



GENERAL INDEX 



"State of Nature' 226 227 229 

Steele, R. 30 31 151-1^2 157 195 219 

Stephen, L. 146 221 234 

Stephen, E. 270 

Sterling, J. 41 

Stephen and Malone 127 

Stevenson, W. 87 

Stillingfleet, B. 182 

Stockdale, P. 19S 258 267 

Stourhead 103 272 

Stratford 42 

Strawberry Hill 219 

Summaries 34 49 

Supernatural, the 65 71 74 88 loi 135 

ISO 156 196 198 221 236 237 238 243 

24s 
Surrey, Earl 206 
Swift, Deane 195; Jonathan 20 75 149 

159 
Sylvester, J. 263 
Symmons, C. 44 
Synionds, E. M. 39 

Tasso 51 55 7i 130 146 M/ 262 263 273 

Tate, N. 57 61 

Taylor, J. 221 

Temple, Sir R. 67 74 270 

Temple, Sir W. 146 271 

Texte, J. 22Q 

Temptation, The 57 244 

"T. H. W." 212 

Theobald, L. 163 173 

"Theodocia" 83 

Thompson, S. 27 

Thompson, W. 71 90 212 

Thomson, A. 103 los 

Thomson, J. 14 19 20 21 67 68 74 78 

100 105 174 196 198 202 230 249 257 

269 272 
Thyer. R. 14 53 182 
Tickell, T. 62 6s 155 181 
Todd, H. J. 16 27 30 36 S3 55 56 MS 

216-217 218 263 276 
Toland, J. 44 47 116-118 12s 141 i43 

160 I7S 192 224 259 
Tonson. J. 13 25-27 28 29 30 32-34 39 

130 148 155 172 182 257 277 
Toryism 112 115 i^' 135 136 139 145 

174 196 213 214 
Towers, J. 131 
•T. P." 185 
Translations of Milton 37 41 43 5' 95 

126 186 191-192 210 274 
Trapp, J. 42 186 
Trent, W. P. 14 252 
Tristam, T. 68 
Twining, T. 211 215 
Tvrwhitt, T. 234 
T'ytler, H. W. 263 



Upton. J. 182 
Urbanus Sylvan 260 

Vallombrosia 219 

Verity, A. W. 12 247 

Verse, The 27 54 55 56 61 62 65 66 67 
71 73 78 80 90 93 10; 106 144 161-162 
163 164 165 166 201 202 204 205 206 
207 230 231 232 233 235 236 239 247 

Versification 146 160-166 170 193 195 
200-202 230-240 

Vida, M. H. 262 

Virgil 30 51 57 61 65 66 67 79 83 94 96 
97 109 121 147 149 150 152 IS4 158 
159 160 161 164 188 193 198 200 203 
212 219 269 273 27s 

Voltaire 67 127 1=5-157 180 194 196 261 

"W. & D." 260 

Wakefield, G. 232 

Walker, J. 234 

Waller, Edm. 17 s6 57 59 60 70 75 no 

126 i4i 142 145 165 195 200 261 
Walpole, H. 12 213 219 253 271 272 

277-278 
Walpole, Sir R. 66 
War 228, V. "Battle" 
Warburton, Bp. 125 127 160 167 178 183 

190 191 
Warton. J. 15 20 22 33 73 98 106 140- 

141 166 169-170 172 173 193 194-195 

202 204 218 230 234 239 269 274 
Warton, T. 16 20 22 36 39 40 41 72 75 

84 98 15s 167 173 194 212 21S-217 

218 22s 236 239 277 278 
Washington, G. 46 
Washington, J. 46 61 224 
Watkinson, E. 147 199 258 
Watts, I. 61 138 164 254 
"W. B." 187 
Wealth 228 

Webb, D. 198 200 202 206-207 230 
Welsh, A. H. 223 
Welsted, L. 150 
Wesley, J. 27 159 217 n.36 221 
Wesley, S. 60 159 
Westminster Abbev 74 85 87 164 196 

274-275 
Whallev. P. 189 
Whateley, T. 270 
Wheeldon, J. 96 
Whig Party 28 124 132 145 i74->75 222- 

230 273 
Whincop, M. 127 
Whitehead, W. 84 
Wilcocke, S. H. 105 
Wilkie, W. 91 198 
William III. 61 14S 270 271 
Winstanley, W. 114 ii5 146 



302 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[394 



'■W. K." 189 
Wodhull, M. 83 
Wollaston, W. 162 
Wood, A. A. 113 115 120 
Wood, R. 255 
VVoodberry, G. E. 262 
Woodford, S. 145 162 
Wordsworth, W. 106 234 248 
Wotton, Sir H. 129 141 
Wright. T. 184 
"W. S." 60 
Wynne, R. 48 265 

Yalden, T. 59 116 

Young, Edw. 19 20 21 67 70 72 73 84 

87 105 170 194 202 204-206 230 239 

262 
Yourdf, J. 231 

INDEX OF TITLES 
Absalom & Achitophel 56 
Absalom Senior 145 
Abstract of Melancholy 173 
Acct. Gr. Eng. Poets 58 116 152 
Active & Retired Life 68 
Adam, A Sac. Dra. 137 
Adam's Luxury 183 
Adamus Exsul 186 ff. 
Addison 13 
Addisoniana 257 276 
Adonais 109 
Adriano 102 

Advantages Mod. Gardening 271 
Adventurer, The 193 269 
Adventurous Muse 61 
Advice to Poets 12 i;:; 203 276 
Age of Johnson 21 
Amyntor 116-117 175 
Anatomy, The 20 173 
Andrew Marvell's Poetischc U'crke 13 
Anecdotes (Seward) 30 
An Epistle (W. S.) 62 
Annotations on P. L. (Hume) 29 148 

176 181 
Anonymous Poetry 56 66 67 68 69 71 

74 78 87 92 95 98 100 loi 102 
Answer to Anstey ( Garrick) 171 
Apology for Heroic Poetry 147 
Apotheosis of Milton 257 275 
Apparition, The 62 
Areopagitica 43 46 1.39 225 
Argonautics 262 

Art Eng. Poetry 157 234 251 253 269 
Art of Health 30 n.io 
Art of Love 62 
Art of Poetry, New Plan 198 
Art of Preaching 75 
Art of Reading 232 2.34 
Art of Sinking 159 



Arts & Sciences 229 

Athenae et Fasti 113 1x5 

Athenian Mercury 57 120 142 162 

Augustan Ages 17 157 

Aureng-Zebe 141 

Authors 90 

Baptistes 127 

Bard 80 

Battle of Genii 262 

Beauties Eng. Poetry 39 210 

Beauties of Poets 39 

Beauties of Poetry 198 206-207 

Beauties of Hagley, Etc. 211 

Bee, The 215 216 

Bee & Milton Convicted 191 

Beginnings of Eng. Rom. Movement 17 

18 205 
Beginnings of P. L. in Latin 186 191 

200 
Behemoth 113 

Bentley's Emendations 176-179 185 
Bentley 179 

Biographia Dramatica 217 n.36 
Biographia Literaria 218 237 
Bibliograohv 17 43 279 
Bibliotheca 63 
Bion 55 

Blemishes in P. L. 13=; 193 269 
Bonaparte in Egypt 226 
Book of Nature 271 
Botanic Garden 233 
Britannia 105 
Brit. Enchanter 165 
Brit. Librarian 251 
Brit. Mars 184 
Brit. Mus. Cat. 17 27 113 120 125 n.24 

180 182 256 
Brit. Parnassus 157 
Brit. Philippic 81 
Brit. Poets (And.) 43 136 
Burlesque Rvw. of Allegro 217 
Calvary 220 

Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit. 17 n.36 176 
Candour 69 79 276 
Caractacus 210 
Castle of Indolence 74 
Champion 184 
Character Chas. II. 14 
Characters. Etc. 216 
Charge to Poets 84 
Christiad 262 
Chronicle (Heath) 112 
Citizen of World iq6 206 
College Life 66 
Columbia 98 

Commendatory Verses 53 60 144 
Compleat Art of Poetry 142 150 157 164 

251 257 261 269 



395J 



GENERAL INDEX 



Compleat Hist. Eiig. iig J51 

Compleat Hist. Europe 118 

Complete Commentary 181 

Commonplace Book 172 175 

Commonwealth 44 45 226 

Conjectures 204-205 2.^0 239 262 

Conjectures on Origin of P. L. 127 263 

Contemplations 204 

Contest, The 203 

Cooper's Hill 238 

Country Clergyman 214 

Court of Dullness 65 

Craftsman 169 

Crit. Abilities of Addison 258 

Crit. Essays (Scott) 215 

Crit. Essays 17th Cent. 247 

Crit. Exam. Samson 72 

Crit. Works (Penn) 105 210 

Critical Review 42 46 48 98 100 118 
131 132 197 199 204 205 207 214 215 
230 232 233 234 236 241 253 255-256 
261 262 271 272 274 278 

Critique, v. "Addison" 

Critique on P. R. 183 

Cursory Remarks 41 214 216 

Cyder 25 

Cyprian Academy 141 

Daily Gazette 260 

David & Bethsabe 185 

Day of Judgment 79 

Death 171 

Death of Addison 65 

Ded. of Aeneis 174 

Ded. to the Traveller 206 247 

Denfence of Vindication 117 n.io 

Deity 239 

De Jure Belli 185 

De la Predication 220 

Democracy & Poetry 223 

De Re Poetica 116 147 

Deserted Village 230 232 

Desiderium Lutetiae 212 

Design of Eccl. 163 

Dev. Eng. Lang. & Lit. 223 

De Veritate 261 

Dialogues of Dead 196 

Dialogue, Dr. J. & Dr. G. 98 

Diary (Green) 30 M 210 215 218 

Diary (Moore) 260 

Diary (Robinson) 31 260 

Dictionary (J) 79 130 187 201 

Diet, of Authors 148 

Diet. Lit. Curiosities 278 

Diet. Xatl. Biog. 17 n.36 114 127 180 

233 234 
Diet. Histonque 125 n.24 132 
Diet, of Rhymes 2-!4 
Dignity of Kingship 142 



Directions to a Painter 40 
Discontent in State 59 
Discourses (Polwhele) 235 
Discourse on — 

Anc. & Mod. Learning 152 

Government 174 175 

Imitation 193 
Disinterment of Milton's Coffin 275 
Dissertation on — 

Benevolence 278 

Eloquence 199 

Iliad 298 

Italian Poetry 156 261 

Poems of Ossian 170 

Poetical Imitation 21 1 

Reading Classics 160 
Divine Legation 127 160 
Divorce 43-45 I7.S 
Dramatic Poets 115 116 
Dra. Sketches N. Myth. 210 
Dunciad 232 n.67 

Early Rep. P. L. 17 

Eclogue 203 

Eden, on Gardening 270 

Education 86 (Titles 265-268) 

Edward 254 

"181 l" 107 

Eighteenth Cent. Studies 233 

Elbow Chair 72 

Election in Parnassus 275 

Elegancies out of P. L. 25 155 

Elegant Extracts 36 38-40 

Elegies & Sonnets 99 

Elegv— Gray's 22 77 84 

In'W-Abbey 85 

To Mason 105 

In the Garden 83 

On Pile in Ruins 171 
Ele. Prin. Belles Lettres 236 
Elements (Kames) 198 201 202 206 258 

269 
Ele. Elocution 234 
Elfrida 172 210 
Encomium on Warton 106 
Encv. Brit. 17 

England's Debt to Milton 247 
English— Anthology 27 38 39 

Essays (Jusserand) 156 

Garden 233 271 

Garner 119 

Hist. Review 113 

Lyrical Poetry 22 169 

Metricists 230 

Parnassus 141 

Theophrastus 144 
Enquiry into — 

Happiness 94 

Learning of Shakespeare 189 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



396 



Nat. & Laws of Poetry 19.S 
Envy 96 

Epigoniad Reviewed 192 
Epigram on Milton 57 120 141 
Epigram on J's. Diet. 80 
Epigrams 206 
Epitaphium Damonis 126 
Epistle to — 

Anstey 93 231 

Augustus 69 

Cobliam 67 

Colman 81 

Daniel Wr — y 71 

Mr. Duke 144 

Mr. W— (W. S.) 60 

Fellow Traveller 270 

Fenton 270 

Gentleman of Italy 9=; 

Mathew. G. P. 107 

Priestley 103 

Dr. Shebbeare 96 

Thomson 67 

Tucker 12 

On Poetry 60 
Epistles (Kenrick) 205 
Epistola ad Polio 43-45 
Essay on — 

Allegorical Poetry 193 

Blindness 255 

Chinese Gardens 271 

Criticism 199 

Dramatic Poesie 162 

Dryden 141 

Education 47-48 

Elegy 170 

Emendations i"7 

English Poetry 18 

Epic Poetry ( Hayley ) 97 219 

Epic Poetry (Voltaire) 1 55-157 261 

Epigoniad iq8 

Genius of Homer 255 

Genius of Johnson igi 

History ( Hayley )^96 

History of Mankmd 214 

Imitation of Ancients 183-185 

Imitation of Moderns 136 185 186 
189 190 191 261 277 

Learning Anc. & Modern 235 

Love & Gaiety 170 

Milton 247 

Milton's Verse 60 

Modern Gardening 210 271 272 

Power of Numbers 201 

Painting 97 

Pastoral Poetry 235 

Peace of 1783 98 

Poetry (Sheffield) 163 

Pope (Warton) 66 170 194-10.5 204 
234 



Study (Clark) 179 

Styles of Poetry is8 

Swift 194 

Tatler, Etc. 258 

Translated Verse 56 164 

Truth (Beattie) 42 209 211 230 239 
241 266 
Essays of — Blackmore II 

Collins, J. C. 119 156 

Dryden 146-147 150 247 

Knox, V. q. v. 

Milton, &c 47-48 

Moor 198 
Euphrosyne 72 95 96 
Examen Miscellaneum 162 
Excellency of Free State 174 
Excursion, The 106 
Existence of God 230 
Expected Invasion 106 
Explanatory Notes on P. L. 16 30 123- 

124 179 
Expl. Note on Allegory ii;8 
Extracts from P. L. (Wesley) 27 218 



Fable of the Bees 158 

Fables (Dryden) 29 

Faerie Queen 20 

Familiar Expl. of P. L. 107 257 

Familiar Letters 44 

Farewell Hymn 76 

Farewell to Summer 92 

Father's Revenge 98 

Female Conduct 83 

Female Advocate 145 

Fleece, The 82 

Forwardness of Spring 90 

Four Elegies 84 

Freeholder 153 

Freeholder's Grand Inquest 142 

Free-Thinker 261 

Furius 189 191 

Garden, The 109 272 

Garden Inscriptions 90 

Gardening Titles 268-273 

Genius 86 

Genius of Milton 81 

Gentlemen's Magazine 12 22 29 n.9 42 

177 ff- 184 185 186 ff. 190 191 260 

270 274 275 277 
Genuine Remains 14 53 113 182 
Gift of Poetry 64 
Government (Locke) 175 
Grave, The 20 202 
Gray's Inn Journal 275 
Great Natural Geniuses 154 
Gk. Trag. of Burton Reviewed 172 
Greenfield Hills 104 



397] 



GENERAL INDEX 



305 



Grotius on Christ's Passion 185 
Grotius on Sacrament l8s 
Grub Street Journal 177 
Guardian Papers 153 

i 
Harleian Misc. 45 
Harmony of Language 231 
Harmony of Spheres ,': 127 
Heads of Gr. Britain 124 
Heriade 194 196 
Herod the Great 127 n.27 
Hind & Panther Transposed 145 
Hints toward Life of Bentley 178 
Hidings 44-45 
History of — 

Britain 44 4,s 47 HQ I7S 2.SI 

Gr. Brit. & Ire. 29 

Compafaffve Literature 246 

County of Kerry 270 

De la Litterature 17 

Eighteenth Cent. Lit. 20 

England (Hume) i.W-i."!! 251 

England (Macauley) i.s,^ 

English Drama 18=; 

Eng. Lit. in i8th. Cent. 13 28 222 258 

English Poetry (Courthope) IQ 

English Poetry (Warton) 212 236 

English Prosody 17 21 

Eng. Romanticism 17 19-20 22 170 
222 230 237 268 269 

Eng. Thought in iSth. Cent. 221 

Eng. Versification 22 

His Own Time (Parker) 122 

Lit. Crit. in Renaissance 247 

Milton (Masson) 16 28 29 44 i!2 114 
138 

Minorca g 184 

My Own Time (Burnett) 118 J14 

Puritans 122-123 

Sin & Heresy 148 

Thomas Ellwood 1 10 144 
Hobbes (Stephen) 146 223 
Hop-Garden 78 
Horae Lyricae 254 
Humble Address (Law) 184 
Hymn to the Naiads 261 

Icon Basilike iiv 142 

Iliad (Pope) 159 20S 231 

11 Paradise Perso 261 

II Tasso, A Dialogue 262 

Imaginary Conversations 21 1 

Imaginary Visit to Parnassus 30 

Imitation of Horace 63 78 

Imitation of Juvenal 90 

In Miltonum 269 

In Paradisum Amissam 53 144 

Independent Whig 174 

Index to P. L. q. v. 



Indian Observer 236 

Inferno (Boyd) 262 

Inf. Philos. on Fine Arts iq8 

Inner Temple Masque 212 

Inscription to Moulton 274 

Inspiration of Poetry 262 

Installation Ode 92 171 

Irene 76 

Isle of Pines 1/5 

It Is Not To Be Thought Of 106 

Italian Poems 40-41 52 rr 126 210 

Jerusalem Delivered 262 
Jesus Grove 270 
Jewish Bard 96 
John Dennis 149 
Julii Mazirini 40 

Knowledge, an Ode 79 

La Vita di Tasso 263 

Ladies' Library 157 

Last Day, The 91 

Last Fruits no 

Laureate, The 87 

Laws of Poetry 150 160 162 163 165 

257 
Lawyer's Farewell 70 
Lay Monastery 157 
Lectures on Eng. Poetry 2.58 
Lectures on Rhetoric igg 
Leonidas 180 200 201 
Les Saisons 271 
Letter of— 

Cowper to Bagot 234 

Anon, to Bavius 177 

Anon, to Leland 199 

.Anon, to Mason on Ode 274 

Anon, to Warton 21^ 

Atterbury to Pope 127 142 1-14 i,s8 159 

Clarendon to Gauden 142 

Fenton to Broome 121 

Gray to T. Warton 182 

Gray to Nicholls 225 

Gray to West 206 

Hill to Richardson 143 

Lauder to Douglas 191 

Walpole to Montagu 12 

Richardson to Cave 191 

Swift to Wogan 174 

Ritson to Walker 263 

Tyrwhitt to J. Warton 2.^4 

Wotton to Milton 141 

Cowper to Urwin 57 212 213 

Burnet to G. Baker 215 
Letters of — 

Aikin 138 235 273 

Benson. On Poetical Tr. 164 180 

Berkenhout 137 



306 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



Burnet 214 

Chesterfield 183 

Compte, Critiques 127 

Cooper, on Taste 194 

Dennis, q. v. 

Evremond 141 

Gray 218 

Hagley Park (On) 211 

"Heron," of Lit. 217 

Johnson 193 

Locke, on Toleration 17:; 

Milton, of State 44 116 14,3 18,- 

Montagu 219 

Seward 216 

Walpole (H) 12 219 23^ 
Life of— 

Addison (Johnson) 257 

Bacon (Selden) 241 

Blacklock (Spence) 2=;4 

Camoens (Mickle) 224 

Chas. L & IL, James I & II, 
well ( .iarris) i3-2^i33 

Cowley (Johnson) 142 

Cowper (Hayley) 232 23 j 

Cromwell (Leti) 22; 

Dryden (Scott) 217 

Fenton (Johnson) 120 

Goldsmith (Foster) 29, ( Prior 

Grotius 192 

Jesus Christ (S. Wesley) 159 

Johnson ( Boswell ) lo? (Drake 

Parnell (Goldsmith) '206 

Pope (Ruff head) 2,v 

Sheffield (Johnson) 55 

Tasso 263 

Thomson (Cibber) 237 

Tillotson (Birch) 174 

Washington (Sparks) 46 

Williams (Hacket) 112 
Literary Hours 216 220 
Lit. Illustrations 42 190 
Lives of — 

English Poets (Cibber) 129 

English Poets (Jacob) 31 

English Poets (Winstanley) i 

Phillipses (Godin) 16 113 144 
Lives of Milton — (v. "Contents") 

Anonymous 113-114 

Anderson 136-137 

Aubrev 112 113 115 144 

Bell 133 137 

Birch 16 44 117 124 137 141 I. 
168 175 180 183 274 277 

Cibber 129 

Evans 137 

Fenton 120-121 142 168 275 

Garnett 17 43 44 

Hayley 15 137 22c 26^ 

Jacob 31 119-120 



Johnson 16 28 29 31 46 98 127 128 
134-136 137 174 179 183 196 209 212- 
215 219 222 233 260 
Langbaine 115-116 141 
!\Iasson 16 28 29 44 112 114 138 
Xewton 29 128-129 172 251 277 
Pattison 171 
Peck 45 127 168 172 180 
Phillips 44 46 116 143 144 
I\ichardson 16 27 30 123-124 125 139 

144 168 [79 181 259 
Tddil 1(1 53 55 56 137 14^ 218 263 276 
Toland 44 4; Ii6-u8 125 141 143 160 

WhVncop liy''^'^ 

Winstanlev 114 115 116 

Wood no 113 115 120 
London 1802 106 

Longinus on Sublime 150 155 156 180 
197 
Crom- Looker-On, The 237 

Ld. Chatham's Prophecy 92 
Ludicrous Miltonic Verses 95 
Ludlow 94 

Ludlow Masque (Conius) 37 
Lusiad (Mickle) 236 252 262 

) 196 Macarius 91 

Man of Taste 67 
Manifesto 44 
' 19' Medea 210 

Memoirs of — 

Cromwell (Peck) 127 iSo 

Hollis (Brand) 17S 

Hurd (Darb.) 178 258 

Jortin (Disney) 180 

Ludlow 174 

Milton (Peck) v. "Lives" 

Steele (Montgomery) im 

Voltaire (Goldsmith) ig6 
Memory of, To the — 

Congreve 67 

Handel 85 
IS 146 Mason 105 

Milton 64 2S4 

Philips, J. 62 

Shenstone 87 

Waller 56 

Washington 61 
Microcosm 14 15 213 258 
(4 158 Milton— 

.\fter 300 Years 14 252 

And Arist. Def. Trag. "247 

As An Historian 45 251 

In the iSth. Cent. 17 21 144 

No Imitator of Masenius 187 

No Plagiary loi n.8g 

Restored (Swift") 178 



3991 



GENERAL INDEX 



807 



.Milton's— 
Alcove go 

Borrowing fr. Ancients i8o 
Early Reading 26.S 
Fame on Continent 21 i;- 
Garden of Eden 27.^ 
Ghost loi 

Poems on Sev. Occs. 32 36 40 47 51 
52 115 126 140 141 142 167 170-173 
215 
Poems (T. Warton) 16 3Q 40 140- 

141 l^q 168 215 22q 227 278 
Tomb, For 74 
Versification 193 
Mirror, The 211 
Miscellany (Drvden) ^7 ^8 40 142 147 

168 
Misc. Letters, &c. (Gildon) 150 
Modest Plea 255 
Monody on Dr. Warton 106 
Monthly Review 14 42 48 132 137 175 
181 190 191 197 202 203 204 206 207 
210 214 J15 2r,2 253 254 255 257 258 
262 271 272 27- 
Mourning Muse 141 
Musaeus 71 
Muse's Blossoms 92 

Nation, The 14 
Nature of Man 63 
Nature &c. of Criticism 147 
Neglect of Poetry 91 
New Bath Guide 90 232 
New Castle Beer 171 
New Hypothesis 184 
News from Parnassus 6s 
Night Thoughts 20 72 84 
Nuptial Liberty 183 

Observations on — 

Anc. & Mod. Language 48 

English Metre 206 

Fairy Queene 194 

Hume's History 131 

Modern Gardening 270 

Original of Government 183 

P. L. Pub'd in 1725 177 

Poetry 201 

Poetry and Music 200 206-207 

Pope (Wakefield) 232 

Shakespeare (Upton) 182 

Zoonomia 255 
Observer, The 210 
Obstructors of Justice 122 
Ode- 

In Praise of Music I.i7 

On Melancholy 84 

On Poetical Character 75 

On St. Cicilia's Day 39 172 



On Sleep 79 

To A Gentleman 73 

To Earl of Corke 81 

To Edwards 78 

To Health 73 

To Huntingdon 73 

To Hymen 103 

To Ld. Edgecomb's Pig 92 

To Meiriory 81 

To Sicily no 

To Sleep 71 

To The Muse 72 

To The Muses B3 

To The Queen (Congreve) 63 

To The Queen ( Prior) 251 
Odes of Gray Reviewed 204 
Odyssey (Pope) isg 
Old Maid, The 173 
Oliver Cromwell (Green) 181, (Mor- 

ley) 223 
Olio Podrida is 
On— 

A Flower 269 

A Monument to Churchill 87 

.A Sermon against Glory 73 

Bathurst's Park 2-^0 

Bust of Milton 103 

Cobham's Garden 270 

Critique, The 64 

Dryden's Virgil 60 

English Poets 93 

Gainsborough 9s 

Gray in W-Abbey 92 275 

Honor 70 

Johnson's Dictionary 80 

Late Discontent 57 

Late Indecent Liberties 276 

Leonidas 210 

Marriage of the King 84 

Paradise Lost (Marvell) S3 60 

Reprinting Milton's Prose 59 116 

Rhyme 86 

Seeing a Lock of Milton's Hair 107 

Some Late Attempts to Depreciate 
Milton 187 n.8i 

W. L's. Charge Against Milton 186 

Origin and Merit of Rhyme 2^1 
Origin and Progress of Satire 141 147 

163 
Origin of Comus ,30 212 216 
Origin of Paradise Lost 137 263 
Orlando Furioso 263 
Oxford, A Poem 62 

Paidotrophia 263 

Paradisi Amissi 43 

P. L. Imitated in Rhyme 103 

P. R. ; or, Art of Gardening 270 



THE MILTON TRADITION 



[400 



Paradise of Taste 105 

Paradise Restored 221 

Paraphrase of Canticles 145 162 

Passionate Madman 17,3 216 

Pastoral Poetrv lOd 

Peace of Aix La Chapelle 74 

Phebus and the Shepherd gi 

Philos. of Rhetoric 211 

Phrasium Poeticarum Thesarus 144 

Pictures of Poetry lo'; 

Pillars of Priestcraft 174 

Plato Redivivus 173 

Pleasures of — 

A Garden 269 

Imagination (Addison) 154 

Imagination (Akenside) 72 

Melancholy 72 

Pocket of Prose 2^4 
Powers Court House 270 
Poems of — 

Blacklock 254 

Crashaw 262 

Gildon 40 

Gray 253 

Ossian 170 232 

Ramsay 141 187 

Say 42 60 201 

Smart 39 1 73 

Sterling 41 

Surrey 206 

Waller 165 

For Young Ladies 212 
Poetical— (v. "Epistle") 

Calendar 55 

Imitation 211 

Miscellany 212 

Register 119 144 

Scale 195-196 
Pope (Paston) 20 
Portraiture Sacred Majesty 122 
Postscript to Odyssey 159 
Power of Beauty 76 
Praise of Blank Verse 166 
Praise of Isis 171 
Preface to — 

All for Love 162 

British Enchanters 165 

Epigoniad 198 

Fables 147 261 

Horae Lyricae 164 

Iliad (Pope) 158 

Lauder's Essay 191 

Milton's Poems 126 141 

Misc. Works 158 

Poems (Duncombe) 168 

Solomon on Vanity 158 165 

Waller's Poems 165 

Sylvia 147 



Prelude 106 

Present State of Learning 206 

Prevailing Taste in Poetry 233 

Prize Verses 68 

Progress of — 

Corruption 74 

Envy TJ 

Poesy 2S3 

Poetry 104 212 

Romance 262 
Prologue to — 

Comus 76 277 

Orestes 163 

Pastor Fido 163 

Philaster 264 

Public Readings 107 
Pro Populo 43 46 122 143 
Prose Works, v. "Milton" 
Puritanism & Eng. Lit. 239 
Rarnbler Papers 172 181 191 193 236 

257 
Rape of the Lock 261 

Reading of Classics 160 
Reason for Church Gov'mt 126 247 
Receipt for an Epic Poem 159 
Recovery of Man 32 218 
Reflections (Dennis) 150 
Reflections on Amyntor 117 n.io 
Religious Musings 104 
Religious Titles 259-260 263-265 
Relique Hearnianae 251 259 
Remarks on — 

Beauties of Poetry 198 207 

Johnson's Milton 21 46 47 48 174 213 
214 

La Diet. Historique 125 

Paradise Lost 107 

P. L. (Shenstone) 179 

Poetry 107 

Spenser's Poems 179 

Toland's Milton 117 11.10 

Voltaire's Essay 146 
Renaissance 253 
Repentance IQI 
Reply to Parker 143 
Republic of Letters 19 
Resignation 206 
Resurrection 127 
Retaliation 182 
Retirement 107 
Review of Poetry 105 
Review of Text of P. L. 178 
Revolution, A Poem 94 
Rev. Fr. et Poetes Anglaise 20 
Rhapsody to Milton 69 
Rich. Corresp. 166 175 182 193 
Rights of Man 226 n.54 
Rise & Progress of Present Taste in 
Parks 271 



401] 



GENERAL INDEX 



309 



Rising Glory of America g8 
Romish Horse-Leech 175 
Rousseau, J. J. 229 
Rout, The 171 

Sabrina 35 

Sacrifice to Ghost of Milton 55 

Samson A?onistes 12 247 245 

Sarcotis 186 191 

Scales of Mod. Beauty & Talent 195 

Scandberg 127 

School-Mistress 69 

Scriptum dom. Prolectoris 44 45 

Sea-Pieces 67 190 

Seasons (Mendes) 78 

Seasons (Thomson) ig 67 269 

Self-Confiict 145 

Serius Call 184 

Serius Inquiry into Ext. Religion 174 

Sermons (South) 112 

Seventeenth Cent. Notices of Milton 17 

Shak. & Milton no 

Shakespear in Couplets 163 

Shepherd's Pipe 212 

Shepherd's Week 157 

Short View 148 

Sickness 71 

Sine Cure 66 

Situation of Paradise 145 268 

Sketches 172 205 

Sketches of Eng. Verse 172 

Smectymnuus 237 247 

Soliloquy (Blacklock) 254 

Solitude 88 269 

Sonnet on Leaving B-x-n 182 

Sonnets 19 116 173 182 183 210 233 252 

253 
Specimens (Campbell) 18211 254 
Spectator Papers (Addison) 11 47 141 

151-155 252 256-259 261 269; (Bud- 

gell) 157 257 
Stanzas on Milton 276 
Stanzas to Bentley 78 
State of Innocence 54 56 147 151 163 181 
State Worthies 115 
Student, The 184 
Sublime and Beautiful 198 
Sur la Liberte de la Presse 46 
Table Talk 96 234 
Tableaux tires I'lliad 198 
Task, The 234 
Taste 79 

Tatler Papers 30 31 151-152 153 
Tears of Affection 212 
Telemachus 232 
Tempie-Student 87 
Temptation, Sermon on 184 
Theatrum Poetarum 144 164 247 
Theocritus 235 



Theorie de la Royaute 47 
Thoughts on Rhvme, &c. 203 
Three Treatises 201 
To- 

A Child 78 

About to Publish 80 

A Lady 68 

A Lady with P. L. 69 

A Young Lady 66 

Anne Conolly 79 

Bindon, Mrs. 70 

Cholmondoley 66 

Countess of Dorset 58 

Courteous Reader 157 

Cyriack Skinner 116 252-253 

Delia (Hammond) 70, (Pomfort) 
157 

Flavia 56 

Fortune 100 

Judas Iscariot 11 

Lady Dursley 57 

Lady Spencer 210 

Lord Melcomb 86 

Lysander 83 

Master H. Archer 65 

Mr. J. Milton 53 

Mr. Mitchell 66 

Mr. Pope (Harte) 66, (Middlesexl 
59 

Mr. Richardson 175 

Reformer, The 177 

Sleep, Over P. L. 107 

Watts, Dr. 65 

Wordsworth no 
Tractate 43 46 47-48 174 211 219 223 

246-247 265-268 
Tragedies of Last Age 146 162 
Traite du Poeme epique 155 
Traveller, The 177 

Treatment Nature in Eng. Poetry 268 
Triumph of Isis 75 
Triumph of Nature 70 
True Patriot, The 12 
Two Epistles on Happiness 184 
Two Epistles to Pope 67 

LInder Busto of Comus 170 

Under Milton's Tomb 74 274 

Upon Bentley's Emendations 178 

Upon Losing P. L. at Luss 82 

Utopia 242 

Verbal Criticism 178 

Verses — 

After Passing Thru Finton 91 

(Against Lauder) 189 

(Favoring Lauder) 190 

On Peace of 1783 85 

On Warburton's Pope 191 
Viceroy, The 85 



THE MII.TON TRADITION 



40:2 



Vindication of K. Clias. I. igi 
Vindication of Milton — 

From Arianism 260 

From Charges of Lauder i8g 

In Paradise Lost 150 253 
Vision, A 184 
Vision of — 

Death 91 

Judgment log 

Patience 168 

Purgatory 144 
Voltaire, &c. in England 136 

Way of Teaching Language 47 

Whist 103 

Winsor Forest 63 

Wish, The 81 

Wit and Beauty 184 

Works of— 



:\ddison 256 

Barbauld 14 

Beaumont & Fletclier 173 196 204 
216 

Browne 212 

Cowper 4! 52 

Dryden 147 

Harris, Jas. 201 269 

Johnson 185 191 236 275 

Pope, q. V. 

Rapin (with Preface) 164 

Spenser 15 193 
Temple (Swift) 146 159 179 
Thomson 14 

Watts (Posthumous) 220 
World, The 30 268 271 277-278 
Wrongs of Africa 100 

Zoilomastix 182 180 



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